All language subtitles for Julius.Caesar.The.Making.Of.A.Dictator.S01E01.1080p.HDTV.H264-FTP

The Roman Republic is mourning
the death of its most senior priest,

the Pontifex Maximus.

It's a religious
position of enormous prestige,

that also brings political authority
and influence.

Now, the people of Rome must
vote for their next Pontifex.

Candidates are expected to be
senior politicians,

with established careers.

Two elder statesmen have put
themselves forward.

But so too has a politician
half their age...

...Julius Caesar.

This is an outrageous move. It is

a blatant flouting of convention,
it is arrogant, it is improper.

But the thing is, that Caesar
doesn't really care for convention,

Caesar is a gambler. Throughout his
life, he is always rolling the dice.

And I think it's actually pretty
clear what Caesar wants

right from the beginning. He wants
to be the greatest man in Rome.

At the heart of the most powerful
empire in the ancient world,

stands Rome.

For 500 years, it was
ruled by elected government.

But in a little over a decade,

this republic was overthrown
by the ambitions of one man.

The story of Caesar is
an incredibly enduring one.

The resonance of it is so powerful.
It remains the most

thrilling, the most extraordinary
political story in western history.

Now, historians
and experts who understand

the nature of political power
will chart his rise...

He's so smart. He just knows how
to use his opportunities.

...and ask how an individual can
bend a centuries—old political

system to breaking point.

Julius Caesar is the most
dangerous kind of demagogue.

This is the story of how ambition
turns to tyranny...

He's a disgrace in every single way.

He's immoral, he's irreligious
and he's a potential tyrant.

...and how a dictator is born.

The awful lesson is that,
in the end,

a populist can corrupt
an entire state.

For every other political system
that values stability and justice

and liberty, that should be,
at the very least, a wake—up call.

Democracy has to be constantly
fought for.

If we take it for granted,
a new Caesar will come.

The election of the new
High Priest of Rome is imminent.

A surprise contender is 37—year—old
Julius Caesar, a mid—ranking

politician in the government at the
heart of Rome and its Empire.

In 63 Caesar is,
relatively speaking,

a junior magistrate.

In British terms, perhaps a kind
of junior

member of the Cabinet, perhaps
on the margins of the Cabinet.

Caesar is very cool, I think
in almost every sense of the word.

He is very dandyish, he wears
his toga in a distinctive way.

To stand out from the crowd,
to set aside conventions,

he's making a statement
about the kind of man,

the kind of politician
that he wants to be.

Caesar lives in a time when most
countries are ruled by Kings.

Rome prides itself on being
a Republic.

Here, elected representatives
share power.

Five centuries earlier, the Roman
people had risen up

and expelled their King,
a haughty tyrant, and brought

the monarchy to an end and the
Republic was designed precisely

with the aim of ensuring that there
would never be a King again.

And there's a kind of collective
memory among the Roman people,

a deep—seated dread of tyranny.

The basic principle of the Republic
is that no individual can

dominate the system. It's a
fundamental part of their rhetoric.

We just don't do monarchy.

At the heart of the Republic is
the Senate, the seat of Government

presided over by an elite
body of wealthy, aristocratic men.

They never call what they have
"democracy", but they absolutely

have the principle of the freedom
of the citizen to vote to rule his

country. His, of course, women have
no vote, let alone poor slaves.

The Senate,
not unlike our parliament,

is of several hundred people.

All members are
from the aristocracy.

Senators are elected in very sharp
and bitter competition

with each other...

...and Caesar has
been making his way up the ladder.

Caesar's ambition is to
maneuver his way up the strict

hierarchy of the Senate.

The higher the rank,
the fiercer the competition.

Right now,
Caesar's a mid—ranking aedile.

The ultimate prize
is the consulship,

a year—long post shared by two men.

To make your way in politics in Rome
brings you status,

and the key Roman word for that is
"dignitas"”, your dignity.

Caesar says, repeatedly,
that dignity was dearer to him

than life itself -
"my reputation is everything".

And so to win the Consulship,
this is what dignitas is all about.

That is the kind of, the sweetest
fulfillment for a Roman. I mean

this is why, basically,
Caesar wants to be Pontifex Maximus,

it's not an end, it's
a stepping stone to an end.

Putting himself forward for the role
High Priest is brazen,

but Caesar is willing to gamble.

Winning would fast—track
his political career.

To hold the most eminent of all the
priesthoods is a very great thing

indeed. It marks you out as a
figure of incredible authority.

It's absolutely not the kind of role
that someone like Caesar,

a dandyish, slightly louche man,
notorious as someone who,

who only has to see a woman to sleep
with her, should be going for.

Only someone of supreme
self—confidence, and a readiness

to play fast and loose with the
rules, who actually enjoys tweaking

the tails of the conservative
establishment, could do that.

CROW CAWS

But Caesar can't do it alone.

He needs a backer to
finance his campaign.

Caesar is aristocratic,
but by the standards of many

in the Senate,
he's not particularly rich.

Not only is he not rich,

he's essentially
mortgaged up to the hilt.

Caesar's solution is to broker
a dangerous alliance.

GROWLING

If you want to borrow
an enormous sum of money,

there's only one person you go to...

...and this is a figure
who's notorious

as the richest man in the city.

A man called Crassus.

Marcus Licinius Crassus,
the wealthiest man in Rome.

He has a real estate empire,
owns significant stretches

of the city and Crassus likes
to have people in his debt.

He uses his money to develop,

consolidate and expand his network
of support.

Think of the figure of a Godfather,

a mafia boss, the most

intimidating, the most powerful.

Everyone sees Crassus as a kind of

rather menacing spider at the Centre
of a web that spreads everywhere.

It can be very dangerous
to be in Crassus' debt.

He can be, according to some ancient
reports, pretty brutal.

Crassus sees in Caesar
an extremely capable individual.

He knows that he has all the talent,

all the potential, to do extremely
well in the Roman political game.

Caesar is a tremendously
valuable asset

and one very much worth
investing into.

It's a gamble.

Caesar knows that by borrowing
from Crassus there is

a risk that he will end up as a fly
wrapped up in the web.

The High Priest will be
elected by a public vote.

Caesar plans to appeal to the
ordinary people of Rome,

by exploiting their plight.

Rome is increasingly divided.

Over 100 years of violent conquest,
it's grown from a small city

to a vast Empire,
stretching across the Mediterranean.

And the spoils of war have brought
a handful of men outrageous wealth.

The scale of conquest is producing

enormous influx of money,

influx of slaves.

Rome is richer than
it's ever been before.

And yet, the wealth of
the wealthy in Rome,

the greater the poverty
of the poor in Rome.

The people of Rome are half—starved,
ill—housed.

There are hundreds of thousands
of people who are not

sharing in the wealth
that they can see.

And Caesar says, how do you win
the support of the Roman people?

By being their friend,
by being their supporter

and be recognised as someone
who is on their side.

In his current political position,

Caesar's in charge of public
festivals and gladiatorial games.

It gives him a direct line
to the impoverished masses.

Games in Rome are entertainment,
they're something to do

and they're free.

Not only do you get some way
to escape the mundane

reality of your life,
but also there's some really vital

food as part of that
package as well.

Caesar makes a decision
to spend a considerable

amount of money
on the games that he throws.

He makes them bigger and better than
those who have gone before him.

Great tables groaning with food,
supply with wine,

all kinds of dazzle, of spectacle.

The accounts we have of Caesar's
games suggests that he did

extraordinary things with
gladiators in silver arm our.

These kinds of things
would be memorable.

It's about branding, so that
your name is on everybody's lips...

...and it's a kind of policy,
I think,

that perhaps has echoes of the way
that in Italy, Silvio Berlusconi,

say, would buy football teams
or own TV channels.

It's a way of wooing potential
voters by entertaining them.

I don't think there's necessarily
any evidence that Julius Caesar

really cares for the day—to—day
welfare of the people of Rome.

Rather, his tactics are very
successful for getting him

where he wants to go, politically.

CROW CAWS

It's the day of the
Pontifex Maximus vote.

All Caesar can do is
hope his financial

and political gamble
will pay off.

Caesar is getting ready to
leave his house to go and hear

the election result and there's
a famous story told about this that

he kisses his mother goodbye,
and he says to her, "Mother, either

"I come back as Pontifex Maximus,
or I won't be coming back at all."

He knows the stakes are that high...

...that he either wins, or he faces
bankruptcy and political ruin.

CROWS CAWING

He's rolled the dice,
he has wooed the voters,

he has convinced them he's their
man. He has won, he wins the office.

It is a very key moment for Caesar.
It lifts him up

out of this
mass of aristocrats like him

and it gives him a kind of dignity
that he hadn't previously had.

And now the path stretches
ahead of him.

High Priest of Rome and popular
with the voting public, Caesar is

now a rising star in the Senate.

Julius Caesar is very much in tune
with how politics is developing.

Caesar recognizes that the
people are going to be an important

part of politics going forward.

There are no political
parties in Rome,

but politicians fall into two camps.

Caesar is a Populares,

a politician who believe
decisions should be

placed in the hands of the people.

Populares stand in bitter opposition
with the Optimates, who believe

government ought to rest solely in
the hands of a conservative elite.

Caesar absolutely hates
the Optimates.

Optimus means the best, these are
the best people and undoubtedly,

the Optimates in Rome
think of themselves in those terms.

What Rome needs is not
this mob rule,

this horrendous appeal
to the unwashed masses.

A Populares politician, on the other
hand, thinks that the people

have been neglected in the bigger
picture of Rome.

Caesar's contempt
for the conservatives in the Senate

is entirely genuine.

I think he feels that
their perspective is old—fashioned,

it's hypocritical,

it ignores the needs of a people

in a great imperial capital.

The population of Rome is in
a really agitated condition.

Poverty of the masses
can lead to revolution.

It's dynamite.

It can blow up at any moment.

Caesar's brazen wooing of the people

has angered conservative
Optimates...

...50 when, just a few months later,
a conspiracy to violently

overthrow the Senate comes to light,
Caesar is dangerously exposed.

In the same year as we get a new
Pontifex Maximus,

we also have a conspiracy in Rome,
known as the Catiline

conspiracy, and this rocks
the political establishment.

A man named Lucius Sergi us Catilina
allies himself with those

who are disenfranchised,
the poor in Rome, who do have

resentment against the Senate,
and decides that actually

revolution and the overthrow
of the Senate is the way forward.

Catiline does
a sort of organization of the crowd,

and he can use that to, effectively,
make a little army for himself.

It is a very,
very frightening moment.

Rumors begin to circulate
that Caesar may have had

a hand in the plot.

Caesar may be increasingly popular
with the people but that, of

course, just means that his rivals
in the Senate are watching him with

ever greater suspicion, and those
who want to thwart his rise are,

therefore, unsurprisingly,

very, very keen
to implicate him in the coup.

The conspirators are betrayed
before they can act.

Five senators, one a former consul,
are arrested

and await their fate.

The current consuls want to send
a clear message -

execute the conspirators
without trial.

I think what's actually scaring
the Senate absolutely witless is

the prospect of the Roman masses

actually organizing against them.

They're not really
frightened of these conspirators.

They're frightened of the masses.

The Senate debate what can

and should be done with
the conspirators,

with speakers taking turns,
according to their rank.

The people who speak before Caesar
are those who outrank him,

almost all of whom are Optimates.
They state, let's put

Catiline and his fellow
conspirators to death.

They all say, "Yes, yes, we agree,
we agree," and there is Caesar,

"What is your opinion,
Gaius Julius?"

Caesar knows that his enemies
are trying to tar him

as someone who perhaps had been
taking part in the conspiracy.

So by taking part in the debate,
Caesar is repudiating that.

This is an opportunity for him
to sway the Senate and he's not

going to let it go to waste and
he does it very, very brilliantly.

Caesar launches into a most
moving speech,

and he says what these conspirators
have done is the most

appalling crime, for which
there should be no mercy,

but our ancestors
have established laws.

If we start executing
Roman citizens,

what will the Roman people
make of it?

He points out that it is against
every law of the Roman state

to put to death fellow citizens.

Therefore, ie, Caesar proposed that
rather than execute them,

we hand them over and imprison them.

This is something that is
unheard of, the Romans don't have a

kind of prison system,
so he's doing something radical,

thinking outside the box, but at
the same time, and this is the

genius of it, he's casting himself
as the defender of tradition.

Everyone has said, "Oh, yes, we
agree, they should be executed.”

Now, they say, "Oh, Caesar's right.
Of course,

"it's much better not to execute
them and to have them imprisoned."

Caesar appears to have swayed
the Senate,

but the Optimates have
one young senator yet to speak.

Rising to his feet,
a man who will become his nemesis,

a man called Cato.

Cato and Caesar
come from similar backgrounds,

but they're total polar opposites.

Caesar is known for his
flamboyant fashion,

rickety finances, bribing electors.

Cato is somebody who represents
the very most old—fashioned

ideal of a Roman gentleman.

Very, very austere, very simple,
he actually walks around barefoot.

But above all, what he stands
for is the old Roman constitution.

And he sees Caesar

a bit like you might today see
Donald Trump, or Bolsonaro, as

a populist. In other words, somebody
who claims to be speaking on behalf

of the people, but is, in fact,
just using that as a way to destroy

the constitution and take power
for themselves, and he's disgusted.

He too knows how to speak
powerfully, and he puts exactly

the opposite case, which is this is
no time to show mercy, preserving

the Republic is the ultimate
priority, these people are planning

to burn our houses,
to rape our wives,

to end our civilization.

This is the worst threat you could
have, we must execute them now.

One of the people that they
are trying to decide what to do

with is an ex—consul.
That's a very, very big deal.

And these are people from very
powerful families, and Cato

is saying they are common criminals,
they deserve the death penalty,

they deserve it more than anyone
else because they are committing the

ultimate acts of treason in trying
to destroy the Republic and I don't

care that this man's a consul, these
are criminals, justice must be done.

Cato is also convinced that Caesar
is in on the plot.

But he has no proof.

Cato is in full flow, the great
conservative,

the man of dignity

and he looks round and he sees that
Caesar has been given a message.

And Cato, put off his speech,
thinks What on earth is going on?!

And his first thought is, wait
a second, this is a letter

from one of the conspirators
and here's Caesar smirking at me.

The letter has been sent by Cato's
half-sister, Servilia.

Caesar, who's having affairs
with everybody else,

is also sleeping with Cato's sister.

Caesar is dragging Cato
down into a kind of dimension of

tawdry humiliation and smut

that is calculated to infuriate him.

And this is the moment he gives
an astonishing, blistering speech.

He takes no prisoners and says,
"These people, these populists,

"you can't see it yet, but I promise
you, these people pose an

"existential threat to the survival
of the Republic and unless you

"act against them now, and by the
way, I want to include Caesar in

"that, these people are
ultimately going to

"bring the whole house
crashing down.”

THEY APPLAUD

The Senate swings right
round behind Cato.

CHEERING

Caesar is obviously disappointed,
I'm sure.

It confirms him in his contempt,
both for the mass of his

conservative opponents and most
specifically, of course, for Cato.

Caesar, above all, is ambitious,
he wants to become consul,

he wants to rule Rome.

Standing in his way is this
infuriating man that he

despises, called Cato.

This young man shouldn't be one
of the leading figures, but somehow

his speech has established him as a
man with enormous moral authority.

This is the moment where he realizes
that he's standing for something

and that is, and I was a politician,

it's an incredibly powerful
moment in a politician's life,

when you find a cause,
and from then on,

the cause in Cato's life

is the cause of defending
the Republic against tyranny.

The time will come when historians
of the age look at this

as a defining moment because the
tension between Caesar and Cato is

clearly expressive of deep tensions
within the fabric of the Republic.

THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD

Cato wins the day.

The order is given, the conspirators
will be put to death.

I suspect that the lesson that
Caesar takes from the whole

Catilinarian debacle is that it's
fine to play the Popularis,

that Caesar is brilliant at that,

but that ultimately just
doing that is not enough.

He has to have allies in the Senate
because if you push too hard

against them, people in the Senate
still have the power, they have the

will to close ranks.

He too could end up with
a noose around his neck.

MYSTERIOUS WHISPERS

As Rome reels from the Catiline
conspiracy, some Senators

demand extreme measures to
guarantee their safety -

a military presence
on the streets of Rome.

They call for Rome's greatest
General to return

with his army from campaign
in the East.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was
born into a military family.

Pompey grew up on his father's
military campaigns.

When he was young, his enemies
call him the teenage butcher,

and he becomes the most powerful
General in Rome.

The Roman Empire has expanded so far

and fast, it's had to hand huge
powers to men like Pompey

to command armies and
govern territories

far beyond the reach of Rome.

Pompey has single—handedly conquered
huge swathes of what is now

Turkey and Syria.

His reward — enormous wealth,
popularity and prestige.

Pompey, at this point in time,

is "the man".

He's the one.

Pompey has as much power,

if not more,

than the Senate.

The best modern equivalent
is a warlord.

Caesar sees in Pompey a kind
of harbinger of the Republic's

future, because what Pompey has done
with the scale of his conquests

is essentially to put the whole
of the Republic in his shade.

Pompey is a disrupt or,

and his return will set
the kaleidoscope spinning and that

offers opportunity for someone with
Caesar's abilities and talents.

Caesar backs
the call for Pompey's return.

But not all in the Senate agree.

For many Optimates,

the idea that one man should take
charge of Rome is unthinkable.

The Senate is extremely worried

about the power that Pompey has.

At their core,

they are very distrustful

of one man with too much power.

But by supporting calls
for Pompey's return,

Caesar's not just
rankling his political opponents,

he's risking his alliance
with his financial backer, Crassus.

Marcus Lucinius Crassus

has good reason not to love Pompey.

Crassus fought alongside
Pompey against the slave rebellion

led by Spartacus.

Crassus secured
the decisive victory,

but Pompey took the credit.

There is a degree of bitterness
on Crassus' part.

Let's be clear,
Crassus hates Pompey.

Caesar pushes ahead.

The law prohibits armed
soldiers from entering Rome,

so Caesar backs a new law that
would allow Pompey to enter

the city with his troops.

Like all new bills, it must first
be debated in the Senate.

If the majority agree, only
then will it be presented

in the Forum, Rome's public square,

for the people to have their vote.

Caesar, ever unconventional,

sees an opportunity here to play the
Populares card again and so what he

does, he just bypasses the Senate,
he takes the bill directly to the

Forum, which is obviously greeted
with fury by conservatives in the

Senate. And particularly, of course,
Caesar's great adversary, Cato.

Cato walks out and sees,
to his disgust,

that Caesar is trying to whip up
a mob in favour of Pompey

and that Caesar has surrounded
himself with gladiators,

and gladiators are basically
hired ruffians.

Cato doesn't care,
he walks absolutely alone,

straight up the steps,
and tells Caesar

and the crowd that they should be
ashamed of themselves.

Cato does this nonsensical speech.

We don't need to put this much
power into the hands of one man.

Cato's fundamental point is
the Republic should defend itself

through the constitution and asserts
that the Senate will continue

to rule the country as it should.

And bedlam breaks out.

He's hit from every side.

The crowd throw stuff at him,
the gladiators beat him up,

but he doesn't care.

Cato senses that by allowing himself
to be beaten up, he's showing

the public what is
happening to Rome...

...and he will wear those
bruises as a source of pride

because what he's saying is,
"Look at these people, look at how

"they battered me, look at the kind
of leaders that you are going to let

"come into Rome. How can you
possibly support a man

"who's done this to me?"

Cato's tactic works.

In the end, it's Cato
and his followers

who have the
better of the whole occasion.

For Caesar, obviously, infuriating.

THUNDERCLAP

CROW CAWS

The Senate, horrified by Caesar's
brazen use of violence,

have him immediately suspended.

And the public vote on the bill
to recall Pompey is aborted.

Caesar is staring down the barrel,
potentially,

of the ruin of his career,
having worked so hard.

But actually, what might seem
a humiliation, a defeat, can be

turned around and this is something
that Caesar does again

and again over
the course of his career.

Caesar uses his sway with the people

to show the Senate
he won't bow down.

Two days later,
a crowd "spontaneously”

manifests itself outside
Caesar's house.

People in the Senate fear that
this is potentially an armed mob

that, before you can say it, will be
marching on the Senate house.

It's very clear to all concerned
that everyone has

a stake in deescalating this.

Caesar stands down his angry mob.

The Senate decide it's
better to keep him on side,

and allow him back.

Caesar is always alert to new
ways of doing politics,

and his use of intimidation
and combining it with violence, is a

way to make things happen in Rome.

From Cato's point of view

the Senate is being weak.

They're worried by his popularity,
but they're also trying to convince

themselves they can somehow control
him, and Cato is increasingly

convinced that the Senate must act
against Caesar before it's too late.

CROWS CAWING

Rome is in turmoil,

and Caesar's place in the Senate,
precarious.

But his role as High Priest
offers him a chance to regain trust

amongst his peers.

His household
must host an important ritual

in hon our of the goddess Bona Dea,

who looks after the safety of Rome.

In the case of the Bona Dea, Caesar
himself is not personally

in charge because the Bona Dea is
a female—only ritual and so, on this

occasion, Caesar is going to have to
rely on the women in his family.

So on the scene,
hosting this mysterious

and incredibly important party
is Caesar's wife — Pompeia.

Caesar's mother Aurelia is part of
the ceremony and there's no direct

evidence that Caesar's daughter
Julia is present,

but it's impossible to
imagine that she isn't,

given the importance
of this ritual.

I suspect that Julia
and Caesar are quite close.

Julia is, in a way,
his most valuable possession,

she's his only legitimate heir.

Ultimately, she'll be there to make
a very useful political

alliance for him
through her own marriage.

I think Julia realizes,
at a very young age,

how important her own comportment
as a woman of Caesar's family is.

Julia would've watched
the older women in her life

and I think she would've
seen that those women had their own

ways of exerting power,
of swaying their husband,

of having some
kind of clout within Rome.

The ritual sacrifice is
overseen by one the sacred

order of Priestesses,

the Vestal Virgins.

Everybody who is anyone in Roman
elite society,

who was also female, would be
part of the ceremony.

So there's a lot of pressure
on his household to perform this

ceremony right, to perform it well,

so that the gods that take
care of Rome will be placated.

Suddenly, the word comes to Aurelia
that a mysterious stranger

has entered,
disguised as a harp player.

It turns out this is
a man in drag trying to

sneak into the house of Caesar,
as Pontifex Maximus.

It's a serious violation.

The women go home,

and gossip about Caesar
and his wife spreads like wildfire.

I mean, there's no question,

this is a pretty serious
setback for Caesar.

The man who had desecrated the rites
of the Bona Dea by going into

Caesar's house had, it was said,
this is the rumor that is buzzing

around Rome, had been conducting
an affair with Caesar's wife.

This is not the kind of thing

that a Roman man wants to have
said about him.

If he can't control his women,
if he can't control

his family, it would reflect very,
very badly on the Pontifex Maximus.

After the setbacks of the Catiline
trial, and the failure

of the bill to recall Pompey,

this is a scandal that Caesar
could do without.

To minimize the damage, he's willing
to sacrifice his marriage.

If there's one thing that Caesar
hates, it's the idea that people

might be laughing at him, he doesn't
want to seem a figure of ridicule.

So, what he does is brilliantly
ruthless and brilliantly witty,

he proclaims that
he is going to divorce his wife,

not because she had actually
been conducting an affair,

but because, as he puts it, Caesar's
wife must be above suspicion.

There is no way that young
Julia could've been

unaware of the trouble that this
scandal causes for her family.

Julia fully recognizes
the responsibility that

falls on her shoulders,
not just to be a good wife,

to be beyond suspicion
in her own marriage,

but also to ensure that she's
protecting the Julian family name.

Caesar's entire genetic future
and some of his political

future are going to rest on
little Julia's shoulders.

Caesar's reputation has been
damaged.

He needs to take back control.

Now, the conquering General Pompey
has stood down his army,

and is due to return to Rome.

It offers Caesar a fresh
chance for a powerful alliance.

Pompey's return to Rome is
marked by a spectacular Triumphal

parade through the city's streets.

In a Triumph, the commander parades,

right, literally on floats,

everything that screams,

"I am the conqueror".

Animals, captives, gold.

The people of Rome adore Pompey,

he is Rome's greatest success story.

Pompey has more power than
any citizen in the entire

history of the Republic has wielded.

One of the spectators at the Triumph
is Julius Caesar.

Caesar, looking at him, sees
in Pompey the face of the future,

that this is what it is to be great
in what the Republic has become.

Running through his head is,

"I want that."

For Caesar, Pompey is
the model of success.

But whilst everyone
welcomes the wealth

he brings to Rome,
many in the Senate are wary.

There's a fear,
always the fear, that the

conquering General may set himself
up as the new tyrant of Rome.

But Pompey has just one
thing on his political agenda.

The huge challenge that Pompey faces

when he comes back is to provide
land for his veterans, the

legions who've been following him,
this is what Pompey has promised.

The demand for land by the veterans
of the great campaigns is

persistent through time.

What they need is
a plot of land to live off.

Land means independence,

you're not dependent on granaries

in Rome for your little ration.

It means dignity.

Pompey is a man of integrity,

he gives his word,

you will have a farm.
He is going to see that through.

Pompey puts forward a bill
to award land to his veterans,

but many Optimates,
including Cato, are keen to cut him

down to size and reject it.

Cato still sees
Pompey as a danger to the Republic,

he's a billionaire celebrity, coming
in and throwing his weight around.

It's vital to Cato that these big,

overweening men are marginalized.

When he sees Pompey facing major
difficulties in the Senate,

on the Roman political scene,

surely Crassus must be taking
a good deal of pleasure?

Caesar sees the astonishing
spectacle that Pompey,

the conqueror of the gorgeous east,
he's frustrated,

he doesn't know what to do,
he's absolutely paralyzed.

Pompey realizes that he's becoming
an increasingly isolated figure

and that presents him, Pompey, with
a very real strategic challenge,

how to get out of this...impasse.

Pompey realizes that

one way to win

over the opponents
is through marriage.

Marriage was a tool for a Roman
politician, everybody knew it.

Pompey is probably the most eligible
bachelor in Rome at this time.

He's known to be
beloved by the ladies,

but also has a strange
sense of sexual fidelity for a man.

He's not gadding about bed hopping,
playing the field, like Caesar is.

Pompey, this billionaire celebrity
General, comes to Cato

and says he wants
to marry his niece.

This is a big
moment of decision for Cato

because if Cato allies himself with
Pompey, there's a possibility

that through that compromise
he can keep

Pompey on the side of the Republic
against people like Julius Caesar.

But in the end, he won't compromise.

Flat out...

Flat out rejects it.

He's not prepared to sully
his family by allying with Pompey.

He says, "I'm not going
be outmaneuvered

"by the bedroom of a girl."

This is purely political.

Pompey feels like he has no control

over what is happening politically.

And Cato is thinking...

."I've got him."

Watching the great commander Pompey
belittled by conservatives

in the Senate, Caesar sees
an opportunity that could serve

both of their ambitions.

Caesar recognizes, in the problems
that Pompey is facing,

massive opportunity.

What Pompey clearly needs is
a consul who will be able to

force through the reforms
and the laws that Pompey wants,

namely land granted to his veterans.

Who better to serve the great man
than Caesar himself?

Pompey needs Caesar,

Caesar needs Pompey.

Nothing was going to
happen for either one of them,

unless they joined forces.

Caesar knows the consulship
election is imminent,

when the public will
vote for two men to share

the most prestigious and
powerful political

position in Rome.

With Pompey backing him,
Caesar is certain

their combined popularity will win
him the highest seat in the Senate.

To be a consul, to be known
by the Roman people as someone who

has served as a consul, this is
the dream that every ambitious

citizen in the Republic nurtures.

Caesar wins the election
by a landslide.

It's only a few years since he
was facing the potential utter

ruin of his career.
Had he failed to win

election for the Pontifex Maximus,
he might have ended up a Catiline.

But now he's won the consulship,
it is a great, great thing.

But two consuls are elected,

and Caesar is expected
to share power.

The only consolation that Cato's
got at this stage is that the

second consul is one of Cato's
allies, but Cato must already be

beginning to suspect that he's maybe
not the man to stand up to Caesar.

Now he's consul, Caesar needs
to make good on his promise to

Pompey, by proposing a bill
to award land to his veterans.

Convention dictates that the Senate
must debate it first,

and if the majority agree,
it will be put to a public vote.

It's at this point that
Caesar's familiar nemesis,

Cato, stands up.

Cato filibusters,
it's something that's still done in

the House of Commons, it's something
that's done a lot in the US Senate.

He speaks and speaks
and speaks and speaks

and he speaks out the debate.

It looks as
though the bill has been defeated.

Caesar's defeat, however, turns out
to be only a seeming defeat.

Caesar knows conservatives
in the Senate will do everything

they can to obstruct him.

So he decides to play
Populares once again

and bypass the Senate entirely.

CHEERING

He takes the bill
straight to the public Forum...

...for the people to have their vote.

What Caesar does, and the echoes
with Trump are obvious,

is that he moves out of the Senate,
and he goes back to the people.

He takes the bill into the Forum,

and there in the Forum,
gangs of heavies, gangs of Caesar's

supporters, Pompey's veterans,

a very, very menacing atmosphere.

He stands on the rostra,

and he basically whips up a mob to
try to get through what he wants.

Then Caesar brings out his celebrity
support...

...Pompey the Great.

It's absolutely political theater.

The crowd goes crazy. Yay!

The real jaw—drop is when Caesar
reveals his second celebrity backer.

And the people go...

...wait a minute.
What is going on here?

And that second celebrity backer

is Pompey's deadliest enemy,

Crassus.

Crassus. Crassus, a disgusting
billionaire who made his money in

the most unscrupulous fashion

has now allied himself with Caesar
and Pompey.

Crassus sees the opportunity to
make himself central in Roman

politics by forging an alliance
with two rather unlikely

but extremely effective partners.

Cato and his supporters
gaze in horror as they realise what

this means, that Caesar, somehow,

has brought together the two
most powerful men in Rome.

Three men, take it from the Latin,
triumvirate.

Whether the Senate likes it or not,
whether Cato likes it or not,

it doesn't matter,
they are going to control Rome.

It is Cato's nightmare coming
to fruition.

Cato had the power to nip this
triumvirate before it was

even a twinkle in the three
men's eyes.

All he had to do was agree to
Pompey's marriage proposal.

Playing over and over
in his head is,

"What in Jupiter's
name have I done?"

Caesar presents the land
bill to the people,

but before they take their vote,

there is one voice of opposition.

The second consul,
the elected co—consul of Rome,

effectively the elected
Prime Minister of Rome...

...steps forward onto the rostra

to try once more to argue
against this bill.

I mean,
Caesar's not having any of that.

CROWD GASPS AND SCREAMS

Caesar's heavies pile in...

...they attack him, they beat him up.

They pour a bucket of shit
over the consul's head.

He's literally dripping in shit.

It's that moment, I think, when the
shit is literally dripping from the

head of the elected leader of Rome,

Cato must sense that he's lost.

Caesar just smiles, he laughs,

leaves his colleague to crawl off

and leave Rome to Caesar.

Caesar will ensure Pompey's
veterans get their land,

and that Crassus gets
lucrative tax breaks.

For himself, he's lining up
the command of Gaul,

now modern France, a vast
unconquered province

that promises
him even greater power and glory.

And he's securing this future
with a marriage.

Pompey, as we know,
was rejected by Cato...

...but that's a blessing in disguise

because now,

he can accept Caesar's proposal

that he marry Julia.

All these years, Caesar
has been holding on to Julia

as his ace in the hole
for maintaining

and creating political alliances
and opportunities.

Caesar sees the perfect moment
to play that card.

Pompey's marriage to Julia
is absolutely essential to

Caesar's ambitions.

It's really this event that
solidifies that alliance

as more than just political.

Both Pompey and Caesar are really
putting their skin in the game

by committing to this relationship.

Caesar has really been adopting
a kind of two pronged strategy.

The first strategy is
to accumulate hon ours,

so he's become Pontifex Maximus,
he's become consul,

but it's that fusion
of the traditional statesmanship

and a readiness to play fast
and loose with the rules that marks

him out as someone, by the standards
of the Republic, of menace.

He's won the highest political
position in the land,

he is effectively
the master of Rome,

but here is the question —

what next?

Next time, Caesar seeks glory
in Gaul...

...until events beyond his control

turn allies into enemies

and the future of Rome hangs
in the balance.