All language subtitles for Rome Rise and Fall of an Empire - S01E07 - Rebellion and Betrayal_track3_[und]

[music playing]

\h\hNARRATOR: Emperor Trajan
scales new heights of glory,

\h\h\hdefeating the
treacherous Dacians,

reaping a fortune
in barbarian gold

and pushing the imperial
borders to their limit.

It is the zenith of the empire.

Now, after three centuries
\h\h\h\hof relentless war,

Rome stands at the center of
the world, a lone superpower

without rival.

But peace makes the empire soft.

\hWrapped in luxury, distracted
by elaborate games in the arena,

the Romans are slow to recognize
the threat of a new barbarian

horde bent on the empire’s
\h\h\h\hutter destruction.

[music playing]

In the 200 years following
\h\hJulius Caesar’s death,

the empire blossoms.

Peace and prosperity usher in
\hRome’s gold and silver ages.

\h\hBut it may be too
much of a good thing.

CLIFFORD ANDO: The peace
had, of course, allowed

\h\hRome to concentrate their
economic energies inward away

from military affairs, and it’s
this that may have produced

the sort of general air of
prosperity and flourishing

of arts.

\hIt may also, however, have
had various pernicious side

effects.

The people, as they became
\h\hused to not fighting,

found themselves subsequently
\h\h\h\h\hreluctant to fight.

They may have left themselves
\h\h\h\hsomewhat less prepared

than they otherwise
\h\hwould have been.

NARRATOR: But barbarians
\h\halong the frontier,

ever restless, continue
\h\h\hto probe and raid,

seeking weak spots on the
empire’s immense borders.

By 160 AD, the border stretches
across three continents,

and 400,000 soldiers protect the
50 million people lucky enough

to live inside.

[music playing]

\h\hBack in Rome, the young
heirs to the imperial throne

\hlive a comfortable life
in their father’s palace.

\h\hTheir names are Marcus
Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

Plucked from separate
aristocratic families

\hwhile still boys, both are
adopted by Emperor Antoninus

Pious, who has no
\hsons of his own.

The princes could not
\h\hbe more different,

according to third century
\h\hhistorian Cassius Dio.

ACTOR AS CASSIUS DIO: Marcus
\hwas often frail of health

\h\hand devoted the greater
part of his time to letters.

Verus, on the other hand, was a
vigorous man of younger years.

NARRATOR: A free spirit,
\hVerus’s rowdy exploits

frequently shock Rome.

In contrast, intellectual
\h\h\h\h\hMarcus Aurelius

takes his position seriously.

\h\hMarcus Aurelius had
been groomed for rule

\hlonger than just
about anyone else

in the history of the empire.

NARRATOR: Between his two
\hsons, Emperor Aontoninus

has a clear favorite,
the scholarly Marcus.

To him he gives his prized
possession, his daughter,

\h\h\h\hFaustina, making
Marcus the senior heir.

[music playing]

\h\h\h\hIn 161, when the
Emperor Antoninus dies,

\h\hMarcus and Verus claim the
throne, supported and approved

of by the emperors personal
army, the Praetorian Guard.

\hGARRETT FAGAN: It would have
been easy for the praetorians

to accept these two young
\h\hmen as their emperors.

Of all the troops of the
empire, the praetorians

would have known them because
\hthey were stationed in Rome

\h\hand they would, therefore,
have been guarding the palace,

\h\hand they would have had
interactions with these two

princes over many years.

NARRATOR: They cement their
\h\hbond to the praetorians

with a generous kickback, a
bonus equal to several years

of regular guardsman’s salary.

\h\hMarcus and Verus will need
the loyalty of the Roman army

as war looms large
\hon the horizon.

\hTo the East, the Parthians
invade Rome’s ally, Armenia,

\h\h\h\h\hmaking Syria
vulnerable to attack.

[music playing]

Classical historian Cassius Dio.

ACTOR AS CASSIUS DIO:
\hThe Parthian general

\h\h\hhemmed in the
Romans on all sides,

\h\h\hstriking them down and
destroying the whole force,

leaders and all.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: The
fighting is savage,

\hand Roman forces cannot hold
against the Parthian assault.

\h\hIn 162, Rome has no choice
but to send its troops to war.

\hFor the first time
in two generations,

an emperor leads the
\hway, Lucias Verus.

\h\h\hHis brother, Marcus
Aurelius, remains in Rome.

\h\h\hBoth men really were
inexperienced militarily.

Marcus, who is the senior
\h\h\hof the two emperors,

\h\hsends Lucius Verus to the
East to deal with this threat.

\hNARRATOR: Verus
marches from Rome

\h\h\h\hto a comfortable
headquarters in Antioch,

far from the battlefront.

\h\h\h\hKELLY DEVRIES: He’s
constantly in communication,

\hor at least, his bureaucracy
is constantly in communication

\h\hwith leaders on the
front, but mostly, this

is a leadership in absentia.

And it works.

It works as long as you’ve
got good leaders up front.

NARRATOR: Fortunately,
\h\h\h\hon the front,

Verus has one of the best
leaders of his generation,

\h\h\h\h\hAvidius Cassius, the
commander of Syria’s legions.

Avidius has been a long time
player in imperial politics,

\hbut war proves to
be his real talent.

He was an experienced general.

Was himself Syrian.

\hHe had connections with
the nobility of the East.

Verus staying in Antioch
and partied, basically,

while Avidius had run the
\hcampaign on the ground.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Avidius masterminds
\h\ha string of victories that

\htake the Romans into
the Parthian heartland

face-to-face with their enemy.

\h\hTHOMAS MARTIN: The real
killing that Roman soldiers

did came at arm’s length.

That frightened everybody.

To keep fighting at arm’s
length, when your enemy is

there with a sword or an ax and
you can’t tell what’s going on

behind you or to the side of
\hyou because you’re wearing

a helmet, you can hardly hear
and you can only see straight

\h\hahead, it required
courage and dedication

in overcoming your fear to an
overwhelming, amazing degree.

NARRATOR: Over the next three
years, Avidius and his troops

make a brutal sweep
\h\hacross Parthia.

In 165 AD, they reached
the capital, Ctesiphon,

which lies near modern Baghdad.

[music playing]

\h\h\h\hThe Romans cruelly
ravaged the ancient city.

Classical historian Cassius Dio.

\h\hACTOR AS CASSIUS DIO: When
the Parthian king was deserted

\h\hby his allies, Avidius
pursued him into Ctesiphon

and razed his palace
\h\h\hto the ground.

NARRATOR: The looting
\h\hgets out of hand.

\h\h\hWhile plundering the
temples of the local gods,

\hthe soldiers steal sacred
vessels and other treasures.

It’s an abomination
to violate temples.

\h\hDivine punishment for the
crime comes swift and furious.

The soldiers contract
\h\h\ha deadly disease

from their Parthian victims,
\h\hpossibly bubonic plague.

\hThe Romans leave
Ctesiphon swollen

on success and unwittingly
\h\h\hcarrying contagion.

Having conquered Parthia and
secured the Eastern empire,

\hAvidius and Emperor
Verus return to Italy.

[music playing]

The city honors the
\h\hglorious victory

with a magnificent parade,
\hpublic feasts, and games

that pit gladiators
\hagainst captives,

\hall part of an extraordinary
exhibition known as a triumph.

\hGARRETT FAGAN: Tens
of thousands of people

would be coming out to watch.

\h\hThey’d be waving flags,
throwing things and cheering

as the army went by,
and then behind that

\hwould be just a massive
display of captured loot,

captives, and heaps of arms
\h\hthat had been captured.

\h\hSo it was really
an enormous public.

NARRATOR: Months in the making,
at the cost of a small fortune,

the triumph is a once in
\ha lifetime experience.

Verus celebrates with his new
\hbride, Lucila, the daughter

\hof his brother and
co-emperor, Marcus.

GARRETT FAGAN: When Marcus
Aurelius And Lucius Verus

\h\hcelebrated this
triumph in the 160s,

\h\ha whole generation had been
born and had reached middle age

and had never seen a triumph,
\h\h\hso it was a huge event.

It would have been
\h\ha major event.

\h\hNARRATOR: But Emporer
Marcus is unable to enjoy

the festivities.

\hHe knows that the
campaign in the East

has greatly depleted
\h\h\h\hRome’s army.

[music playing]

And even as Rome parties,
\h\h\h\hsavage barbarians

prepare to attack the reduced
\h\h\hdefenses on the empire’s

northern frontier.

[music playing]

\h\h\hAlong the northern
border, the legionaries

left to guard the fortifications
are seriously undermanned.

Too few troops have returned
\hfrom the war in the East.

\h\h\hThe guards make an easy
target for barbarian tribesmen

\hwho creep out of the dense
woods to prey on the Romans.

[whistles]

GARRETT FAGAN: The fighting
\h\habilities of the Germans

in the second century had grown
proportionately, astronomically

\hcompared to the initial
encounter between Germans

\h\hand Romans that went all the
way back into the second century

BC.

\h\hAnd these were tribes that
could field very large armies,

for a start.

So they were really formidable.

Already, by the second century,
they were very formidable.

NARRATOR: Out on the
edges of the empire,

\h\h\h\h\hsoldiers are
mercilessly cut down.

\h\h\h\hThe dark forests of
Germania become their tomb.

[music playing]

While the brothers
\hMarcus and Verus

\h\hshare the title of emperor,
their general, Avidius Cassius,

successfully conquers the
\h\hgreat Parthian empire,

but at a terrible price.

The soldiers carry back a
great pestilence to Rome.

[music playing]

CLIFFORD ANDO: The Parthian war
of Marcus’s adopted brother,

Lucius Verus, seems to have been
responsible for bringing back

some form of plague into the
\hMediterranean basin, which

\h\h\h\h\hled to simply untold
devastation of the population

of the empire.

\h\h\h\hSome very, very large
percentage of the Roman world

died off in the reign
\hof Marcus Aurelius.

Estimates vary from 10% to 25%.

And it will have been
very, very much worse

\hin major population centers
because the people were piled

one on top of each other.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Charlatans prey
\h\hon the people’s fears,

\h\h\h\hselling bogus herbal
charms to ward off disease.

They say the plague is the God’s
revenge for raiding Parthian

temples.

Emperor Marcus must atone for
\htheir sin with a sacrifice.

THOMAS MARTIN: The only rational
response for a Roman emperor

\h\h\h\hin the face of a giant
natural disaster like a plague

\hwas to try to restore
our peace with the gods

\h\h\h\h\h\hby increasing
sacrifices, by increasing

\hpublic manifestations
of devotion to the gods,

because in a case of
a natural disaster,

\h\h\h\hthe emperor had the
responsibility of preserving

the people by winning back
the goodwill of the gods.

NARRATOR: Despite seven
\h\h\hdays of sacrifice,

the gods are still hungry.

The death toll continues
\h\hto rise, especially

\hamong the troops
in the army camps.

\h\h\h\hSo a lot of experienced
soldiers would have been lost,

\h\hand large numbers of
the civilian population.

So it was hard to
\hrebound quickly.

[music playing]

\h\hNARRATOR: Wounded and
sick, the empire is weak.

Its enemies swoop
\hin for the kill.

In 167, 6,000 German barbarians
cross the Danube River

and burst into the Roman
\hprovince of Pannonia.

They ravage the unprotected
\h\h\h\hprovincials at will,

\h\hplundering villages and
taking hundreds of hostages.

Some barbarians even claim land.

RICHARD WEIGEL: We don’t know
\hwhether they’re just raiding

or whether they want to migrate.

A lot of the tribes
\hsee the advantages

of Roman civilization
\h\h\h\hand would like

to have a piece of the action.

So raids become frequent,
\hand it’s hard for Marcus

to mobilize the troops
\h\hto keep them out.

NARRATOR: For several
\h\h\hagonizing days,

\h\hthe barbarians attack
the defenseless Pannonia.

The Roman legions
are too far away,

\hstrung out along
the vast frontier.

When the legionaries
\h\harrive at last,

the ferocity of the Germans
\h\hnearly overwhelms them.

\h\h\h\h\hI suspect a lot of them
would have had imitation style,

or even captured
Roman equipment.

So I think the German army of
\hthe time of Marcus Aurelius

\h\h\hwould have presented
quite a formidable facade.

NARRATOR: Just as the
\hfirst wave falters.

More Roman troops arrive from
other points along the border.

Their well-timed cavalry assault
coupled with fresh infantry

forces the barbarians
\h\h\h\h\hto retreat.

[music playing]

\h\hShowing incredible
confidence, the German

warlord [inaudible] of the
powerful Marcomanni tribe

ventures into the Roman camp
to negotiate a peace treaty.

Surprisingly, he represents
\h\hnot only his own people,

but 10 other tribes, as well.

This unified front spells a new
type of danger for the empire.

GARRETT FAGAN: The German
\hthreat that Marcus faced

\h\hwas different from the one
that had been faced by earlier

emporers.

They’ve become more organized.

Their societies have changed,
\h\h\h\hprobably by influence

and exposure to the Romans.

There’s a great irony there.

[music playing]

\hNARRATOR: Alarmed by the
growing barbarian menace,

\h\h\hEmperor Marcus
heads for Pannonia.

With no experience in
battle, Emperor Marcus

\h\h\hmust rely on his chief
military officer Pompeianus

to help him earn his glory.

KELLY DEVRIES: German raids
\hhad gone across the Danube

stealing cattle, stealing
\h\hslaves, stealing goods

for centuries.

Why now does Rome
\hactually decide

it’s going to lead
\h\han expedition,

a punitive expedition
against these Germans?

In my estimation,
\hMarcus Aurelius

\his simply building that into a
case for more military activity

in order to give himself
more legitimacy in Rome.

NARRATOR: Though Marcus’s
\hbrother, Emperor Verus,

also joins the campaign,
he is drunk and unwell.

Before they can even
\hreach the border,

\h\hVerus succumbs to plague,
forcing the entire expedition

to turn back.

\hMarcus has no choice
but to return to Rome

\h\h\hwith his brother’s body,
abandoning the northern border

to the ever-growing
\hbarbarian threat.

He returns to a court
facing its own crisis.

\hThe empire’s many wars have
exhausted the royal treasury.

\hThere is nothing left
to fund a new expedition

against the Germans.

KELLY DEVRIES: Most officials
\hprobably were wealthy enough

\hthat a missed payday
wouldn’t matter much.

\h\h\h\hBut a soldier who was
basically living hand-to-mouth

and supplementing that living by
gathering booty from conquest,

those things begin to matter.

NARRATOR: Unable to
\hpay his soldiers,

Marcus resorted to
extreme measures,

\h\haccording to the
"Augustan History".

\h\h\h\hACTOR (AS AUTHOR):
Marcus held a public sale

of his own imperial furnishings.

He sold goblets of
gold and crystal,

\h\hand even his wife’s silk
and gold embroidered robes.

GARRETT FAGAN: It’s sort of as
if the royal family in England

ran out of money and had to
put the crown jewels on eBay

or something to raise money.

CLIFFORD ANDO: I call this
a public relations scheme

because you couldn’t possibly
\hraise enough money to manage

a war by selling off
your second and even

\hyour third set of china,
which is more or less what

the emperor did.

But it amounted to an attempt to
show that even the emperor was

going to make a personal
\h\h\hsacrifice in favor

\hof the common good,
the sort of sacrifice

\hthat Americans once made
in the buying of war bonds

in World War II.

NARRATOR: Marcus’s recruiters
hope the money will help lure

new soldiers for the German
\hwar, but the call to arms

gets few takers.

CLIFFORD ANDO: The Roman Empire
was suffering a huge drain

in manpower and economic power.

And this may well have made
people reluctant to sign up,

and left families terribly,
\h\h\h\h\hterribly reluctant

to send off healthy
young males to war.

\h\hNARRATOR: Resurgent
attacks, of plague also

\h\hstretch the empire’s
resources to the limit.

Scandalously, Pompeianus,
\h\h\h\h\hEmperor Marcus’

chief military advisor, turns
\h\h\hto the dregs of society,

\has the "Augustan
History" reports.

ACTOR AS CASSIUS DIO:
They armed gladiators

and turned the bandits of
\hDalmatia into soldiers.

They even trained slaves
\hfor military service.

NARRATOR: Pompeianus
\h\h\hus is appalled

by the quality of recruits.

But before he can prepare
this ragtag army for war,

disaster strikes on
the empire’s border.

\hIn 169, swarms of
German warrior bands

attack Roman provinces
\h\h\h\hon the Danube.

\hMarcus and Pompeianus must
lead their new legions north

to Germania, ready or not.

\h\h\hFighting on the
barbarians’ home turf,

\h\hthe inexperienced Roman
army is clearly outmatched.

KELLY DEVRIES: When Germans who
were able to draw the Romans

across the Danube and fight,
\henforce the terrain where

the Roman soldiers were
\h\hnot able to develop

\h\htheir military lines, not
able to use their auxiliaries

effectively, the Germans had the
advantage, and they often won.

[battle sounds and shouting]

NARRATOR: In the Spring
\h\hof 170, the greatest

of the German tribes, the
Marcomanni and the Quadi,

square off against the
Romans and crush them.

KELLY DEVRIES: Marcus
Aurelius is definitely

something special.

But does that mean that
\h\hhe’s a good leader?

\h\hHow effectively can he
lead the troops in battle?

\h\hThe fact is is that Marcus
Aurelius’s record there is not

good.

Marcus’s first major battle
\h\hresults in the massacre

of 20,000 Romans.

It is the worst Roman
\hdefeat in a century.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius
\h\hleads his first army

\h\hto battle against the
Germans and fails utterly.

\h\h\hThen disaster
strikes behind him.

While Marcus is bogged
\hdown on the Danube,

other Germans push
into Italy itself.

[battle sounds and shouting]

\h\hIn 170 AD, they pounce upon
the rich port town of Aquileia,

near modern day Venice,
\hand ravage it at will.

\h\hIt is the first time in
centimeters that barbarians

raid the Italian heartland.

[battle sounds and shouting]

RICHARD WEIGEL: They’re
\hfierce, they’re cruel,

they’re barbarian.

And they probably conjure
\h\hup in the Romans’ mind

images of the Gauls coming into
Rome in the fourth century BC,

\h\h\hthe threats of the
Cimbri and the Teutones

in the late second century BC.

The Romans particular fear these
individuals coming to Italy.

NARRATOR: With Rome in
\hthe grips of terror,

Emperor Marcus Aurelius must act
quickly to vanquish the enemy

once and for all.

He moves with his army
north along the Danube

\h\h\hand prepares to invade the
lands of the powerful Marcomanni

tribe.

\h\h\hThe cold green
forests of the north

are alien to the Roman emperor.

Alone and far from the only
\h\hhome he has ever known,

\h\hMarcus adjusts poorly to the
rugged life of an army officer.

His health declines.

CLIFFORD ANDO: We know that the
famous ancient Dr. Galen was

\h\hMarcus’s personal
physician for a time.

\h\h\hAnd we know that Galen
prepared a medicine for him

\hto take every day, both
to treat current illnesses

and to stave off future ones.

NARRATOR: In particular,
plague, which continues

to devastate his troops.

With death constantly
\h\h\h\h\hon his mind,

Marcus records his
innermost thoughts

\h\hin a journal known
as "The Meditations".

\hIt is still in print today
and reveals a man grappling

with his fate.

ACTOR AS MARCUS AURELIUS: Do
not act as if you were going

to live 10,000 years.

\h\hDeath hangs over
you while you live.

\h\hWhile it is in your
power, be a decent man.

\h\hRICHARD WEIGEL:
Philosophy gives him

a way of dealing with
the crises of dealing

with the unpleasant things he
\hhas to face on a daily basis

along the Danube.

\hNARRATOR: The solitude
of the deep German woods

\h\his a far cry from the
chaos and bloodshed Marcus

will meet on the battlefield.

\h\h\hHe launches a series of
military strikes in the lands

of the most dangerous tribes,
\h\hthe Sarmatians, the Quadi,

and the Marcomanni.

\hThe barbarians have
defeated Marcus before

and remain confident as they
set up camp along the river.

But Marcus is learning
\h\h\hfrom his enemy.

He abandons the established
\h\h\h\hRoman line formation

in favor of smaller, more mobile
units called vexillations.

These give his army
greater flexibility

\has they maneuver
through the trees.

KELLY DEVRIES: It was a new war.

It was a different war.

And it was a war that was
\hfar different from some

of these veterans who had just
\hfought the Parthians in very

straight lines and using
\h\hconventional tactics

in the Middle East.

This was a war where ambushes
\h\hwere going to be the norm.

\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: When the
barbarians least suspect it,

the Romans swoop in.

[battle sounds and shouting]

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: In
the heat of battle,

\ha Roman soldier was on a
very dangerous tightrope.

\h\h\h\h\hHe had to balance this
incredible adrenaline rush that

would lead him to attack.

He had to stay calm even though
his hormones are overcoming

him.

He had to set aside the natural
panic that affects anybody when

you’re going to be only two feet
away in a killing zone that’s

\hjust as dangerous to
you as to your enemy.

[battle sounds and shouting]

\h\hNARRATOR: At last the ailing
and inexperienced Emperor Marcus

can claim a victory
\h\hon German soil.

The Romans build
on their triumph

by erecting a line of garrisons
in Marcomanni and Quadi

territory.

The annexation of Germania
\h\h\h\hbegins in earnest.

\h\hBut the Germans
respond aggressively

against the fortifications.

\h\h\hLike hornets whose
nest has been violated,

the barbarians swarm the
\himperial headquarters

in coordinated attacks.

\h\hGARRETT FAGAN: The
Germans that came out

of the forests against
\h\h\hMarcus Aurelius

are not howling savages
\hdressed in bear skins

\hwith wooden shields and big
axes like we see in Hollywood.

They had been dealing with the
Romans now for two centuries.

\hThey had learned
their techniques.

They’d observed their equipment.

\hSo they knew how
the Romans fought.

[battle sounds and shouting]

\hNARRATOR: If they
breach the fortress

the Romans know they will
\hdestroy everyone inside.

[battle sounds and shouting]

\hInside the fortress, Marcus
Aurelius moves among his men,

restoring their spirits and
exposing himself to danger.

\hCLIFFORD ANDO: He
may well have felt,

\h\hout of some sense of
personal responsibility

of which we would
entirely approve,

that if he was going to send
\hmen to their death in war,

that he ought, in fact, to be
present, to take an interest,

to manage those campaigns.

\hNARRATOR: As the situation
becomes most critical Marcus

turns to his pagan gods,
\hsacrificing and asking

for their help against
\h\hthe German hordes.

They answer him with a miracle,
according to the fourth century

"Augustan History".

ACTOR (AS AUTHOR): Standing his
ground, he prayed to the gods

\h\hand summoned a thunderbolt
from heaven against the enemy.

\hRICHARD WEIGEL: The
barbarians, of course,

would have seen a thunderbolt
\h\has a very negative thing.

It seemed that the gods
were favoring the Romans

\h\h\hin this case, and
that’s not a good thing.

So presumably, they would
\hhave to deal with that.

NARRATOR: At the very
gates of the fortress,

the terrified barbarians
\h\h\h\h\hbreak and run.

The Romans are delivered.

Thrilled, the Romans hail
\h\hMarcus by a new title,

\h\h\h\h\hGermanicus, the
Conqueror of the Germans.

\hThrough perseverance,
discipline, and some say

miracles, Emperor
\hMarcus Aurelius

takes the upper hand in his
brutal conquest of Germania.

[battle sounds and shouting]

\h\hEven the peaceful German
farming communities are not

safe from Marcus’s wrath.

The Romans prove their mastery
\hby the edge of their swords.

[battle sounds and shouting]

GARRETT FAGAN: A lot of these
\h\h\hwars against the Germans

were genocidal kinds of wars,
\h\hRomans attacking villages

\h\h\h\hand wiping everyone out,
carrying women and children off

into slavery.

\hWe see soldiers bringing
heads of defeated enemies

to get rewards.

NARRATOR: The Romans record
the ugliness of the conflict

\h\h\hon a towering monument
which commemorates Marcus’s

German campaigns.

It is known as the
\hAurelien Column.

GARRETT FAGAN: The Marcus
Aurelius column is saying,

this is a brutal, nasty business
that your emperor is doing

for your safety.

And this is the cost of it.

You know, it’s not pleasant.

\h\hNARRATOR: In the
German tribal lands,

\h\hMarcus carves out two new
Roman provinces, Marcomannnia

and Sarmatia.

But just as they seem
\h\hto be stabilizing,

disturbing news comes from
\han unexpected quarter--

Egypt.

[music playing]

GARRETT FAGAN: Egypt was one of
the most important territories

\h\hin the Roman Empire
because it was so rich.

There were sort of the
\hfears that somebody

\hwho controlled Egypt might
threaten the entire empire.

NARRATOR: These fears
\h\hprove well-founded

when Egyptian rebels
lead a bloody revolt

against their Roman leaders.

\h\hThe terror in the
desert only increases.

[battle sounds and shouting]

\h\h\hGARRETT FAGAN: It was
definitely a worrying thing.

He had to respond
to that promptly.

Egypt was a huge supplier
of grain for Rome itself.

\hSo a person who controlled
Egypt could put the squeeze

on the food supply for the plebs
and the populace in the city

of Rome, and they would,
in turn, obviously, put

\hpressure on the emperor
to do something about it.

NARRATOR: In 174, Marcus
\hsends to Syria, where

he has three legions stationed.

He directs them to
Alexandria, Egypt.

\h\h\hAt the head of the
avenging army rides one

of Marcus’s oldest and
most trusted friends,

Avidius Cassius.

CLIFFORD ANDO: Marcus
\hAurelius designated

a famous and successful general
under his command, Avidius

Cassius, to have an overarching
command in the eastern half

of the empire, superordinate
\h\hto provincial governors.

[battle sounds and shouting]

NARRATOR: The hero of
the Parthian campaign

does not disappoint.

Avidius puts down the
\h\hrebellion swiftly,

securing the Egyptian territory
and its wealth for the empire.

\h\h\hBut along the empire’s
northern border in Germania,

the enemy is much more elusive.

\h\hRICHARD WEIGEL:
The German campaign

seems to go on without end.

I mean, he is making progress.

But when you drive
\hback one tribe,

another one might appear
\h50 miles up the river

and you have to deal with that.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: For
seven years, Marcus

\h\hhas battled the barbarians
in the dense northern forests

to the wretched decline
\h\h\hof his own health.

\h\hIn 175, he falls ill
on the German frontier.

Whether it is plague or ulcers,
his death seems imminent.

\hHis nurse and wife,
the Empress Faustina,

has stood by him for 20 years.

\h\h\hNow she worries
about her own future.

\hGARRETT FAGAN: If you’re
an empress or a princess,

it’s very clear what happens.

If the male that you’re attached
to dies or falls from grace

or is usurped, then
your life expectancy

\h\h\hcan be reckoned in
minutes, along with that

of your children.
\h\h\h\hYou Want?

To be sure that your husband
is doing well and is healthy

and is supportive.

\hAnd if he’s not, then
you need to be thinking

about contingencies.

\h\hNARRATOR: Grief
overwhelms Faustina.

Who will protect her if he dies?

\h\h\hShe offers her
hand and the empire

\h\hto another noble, Avidius
Cassius, the popular commander

of the armies in Egypt.

Eager to gain the glory
\hhe knows he deserves,

\h\h\hAvidius leaps at the
chance to become emperor.

"The Augustan History".

ACTOR (AS AUTHOR): While
\hMarcus still breathed,

\h\hAvidius Cassius spread
false rumors of his death.

\h\hIndeed, he told his army
that the Senate had already

decreed Marcus a god.

Then he declared
himself emperor.

KELLY DEVRIES: Avidius may
also have felt that it was

for the benefit of the people.

Marcus Aurelius is considered
\h\h\h\hto be a good emperor,

but he was not a strong
\hemperor in many ways,

\h\hnot necessarily so
good in the military.

\h\hNARRATOR: Yet just as
Avidius claims the throne,

\hMarcus recovers
from his illness,

putting both men in an
\himpossible position.

GARRETT FAGAN: What do you do?

You can’t say, listen, I’m sorry
about that claim on the throne

business.

It was a bit of a mistake,
\hyou know, rush of blood

to the head.

Can we move on?

\hOnce you’d staked your claim,
you had declared your intention

to be emperor, you’d always be
suspected from that point on.

This was threatening
\hto Marcus Aurelius

for a number of reasons.

\hAvidius Cassius was a
major military commander

in charge of a significant
\h\h\h\hnumber of troops.

NARRATOR: And now he intends
to take those troops to Rome

itself and assert his claim.

175 AD.

Embroiled in his
German campaign,

\hEmperor Marcus Aurelius is
betrayed by a close friend,

Avidius Cassius.

\h\h\h\h\hShockingly, Avidius is
encouraged by Marcus’s own wife

to claim the throne.

\h\hMarcus must crush the
revolt of Avidius Cassius.

He must deal with the
betrayal by his wife.

\hBut knowing he may die
in the struggle to come,

he proclaims his own son,
\h\hCommodus, as his heir.

CLIFFORD ANDO: Commodus
was not then old enough

to be a significant power
\hbroker in his own right.

\hMarcus Aurelius
does not ever seem

to have considered anyone other
than his son to succeed him.

\h\hNARRATOR: Having been
spoiled in the indulgences

\hof his royal youth, the boy
has yet to prove his character

or worth as a soldier.

But he is Marcus’s only son.

\hThe choice will not
be a good one for Rom.

GARRETT FAGAN: Why did
\hhe appoint Commodus?

Well, because Commodus
\hwas his natural son,

\h\hand this was the normal way
for Roman aristocratic families

to think.

\h\hIt had always been the case
that Roman upper class senators

and aristocrats had
promoted themselves

over many generations.

\h\h\hNARRATOR: With his
son’s position secured,

Marcus turns now to the
\hwife who betrayed him

to Avidius Cassius.

Astonishingly, he forgives her.

GARRETT FAGAN: Marcus did not
\hpunish Faustina afterwards.

\hHe was a very intelligent
man and understood, perhaps,

after a heart to heart with
her, what her motives were.

He didn’t in any way put
her aside or divorce her

or in any way dishonor her.

NARRATOR: As his troops prepare
to March against the armies

of Avidius Cassius, a
messenger approaches,

sent by Avidius’s soldiers.

\h\hThey have ousted the
usurper, hoping to avoid

the true emperor’s revenge.

They know the price of treason.

\h\hGARRETT FAGAN: The
usual course of action

would be for rounds
\hof denunciations,

interrogations, tortures,
\h\h\hexiles, executions,

forced suicides.

The messenger bears a grisly
\hgift, the head of Avidius

Cassius, once his great friend.

Historian Cassius Dio.

ACTOR AS CASSIUS DIO: Marcus was
so greatly grieved at Avidius’s

\hdeath that he could not
bring himself to even look

\h\hat the severed
head of his enemy.

\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: The
rebellion is finished,

\hand Marcus can turn again to
the great project of his life,

\h\h\h\hconquering the German
barbarians once and for all .

RICHARD WEIGEL: The rebellion
\h\h\hinterrupts his campaign.

He has to divert resources,
divert troops, shift money.

\h\h\hAnd that causes a
disruption in his plan.

\hNARRATOR: The barbarians take
advantage of such distractions.

In 178, Marcus sends in troops
\hto face down a violent band

of rebels on the Danube River.

Their savagery has
\honly increased.

\hTHOMAS MARTIN: It was
so overwhelming to face

\hthese barbarians, tall or loud
or smelling, looking different,

that sometimes you’d have
\hto drink before you went

into battle to calm your nerves.

NARRATOR: Marcus must
\h\hsubdue this enemy,

or his years of hard work on the
frontier will come to nothing.

[battle sounds and shouting]

The aging Marcus isolates
\h\h\h\hthe rebel leaders

and has them brutally
\h\h\h\hput to death.

He believes that just one
more season of campaigning

\h\h\hwill bring the
conflict to an end.

CLIFFORD ANDO: The German
\hwars of Marcus Aurelius

would turn out to
be extraordinarily

long and protracted.

But it’s not clear that it was
obvious to Marcus or to anyone

\helse that they would
be so from the start.

NARRATOR: Now almost 60, Marcus
hopes that his son and heir,

Commodus, will carry on his
battle against the Germans,

\ha struggle that has taken
the best years of his life.

RICHARD WEIGEL: Marcus Aurelius
had trained Commodus, took him

with him on his campaigns,
but he was just too young.

\h\hI don’t think Marcus
Aurelius fully realized

\h\h\h\hwhat kind of emperor
Commodus would have become.

NARRATOR: But in his
role as co-emperor,

the boy has become lazy, with no
interest in hard won victories,

\has unlike Marcus
as a man could be.

\hStill, he is by
his father’s side

when Emperor Marcus Aurelius
\hsuccumbs at last, probably

to the same ruinous plague
that claimed his brother.

[music playing]

\h\h\hJust 19, Commodus has no
patience for warfare and longs

for the good life in Rome.

RICHARD WEIGEL: He doesn’t have
the leadership or the vision

that his father had.

And he pretty much backs off of
the campaigns along the Danube.

Long term.

It’s a very negative
\h\hthing for Rome.

NARRATOR: With weak treaties
\h\h\hand reduced garrisons,

\h\hthe new emperor, Commodus,
abandons Germania, squandering

\h\h13 years of struggle
and bloodshed to return

to the comfort of Rome.

[battle sounds and shouting]

Without the vigilance of
Emperor Marcus Aurelius,

the great Roman Empire
fights a losing battle

against the barbarian swarm.

THOMAS MARTIN: If you
\hhave a perfect storm

\h\hof bad leadership, bad
luck, and foreign threats,

you were in really
very deep trouble.

\hCLIFFORD ANDO: What they
would discover, not least

\h\h\h\h\hin the reign of Marcus
Aurelius, is that they could not

\hwithstand challenges
across more than, say,

a certain number of points along
that border at any given time.

\hNARRATOR: The tide
is turning for Rome.

There will never be an emperor
\hlike Marcus Aurelius again.

\hAccording to Dio, it is
the beginning of the end.

\h\hACTOR AS CASSIUS
DIO: Our history now

descends from a kingdom
\h\h\hof gold and silver

to one of iron and rust.