Original subtitles

And the citizens,

and to serve Rome,

I will bring the glory of our campaigns... No, no, no...

Um...

Hmm...

As I have served Rome,

on distant battle fields, no... Yes, what is it?

Oh, um...

- Perhaps a suggestion? - Yes, words?

Give me the words, you're good with words.

I...

Titus Flavius Vespasianus.

I can't hear you, louder!

I...

Titus Flavius...

Vespasianus...

...wear an iron ring.

Not gold,

not silver...

not encrusted with precious stones...

Iron. The stuff of the plough.

and the gladius

...and the bit in the mouths of the mules

my father and grandfather bred.

Emperor Nero of late,

a Patrician

of August family,

he wore gold.

He built the Domus Aurea,

the grandest house ever to be built,

on land he stole from his citizens.

I...

Titus Flavius Vespasianus,

will tear down that Domus Aurea,

stone... by stone,

...and in its place, I shall build an Amphitheatre,

not for the masters of this city,

but for the entertainment

and pleasure of the citizenry...

...the men of iron

whose blood and toil

built this,

our City of Rome!

I'm stunned.

And to think I thought your instructors in rhetoric were overpaid.

And the Amphitheatre, was that a sudden insight?

Er no.

I've been considering it for a while.

What better way to sap power from the Circus Maximus

and Patricians who so resent our ascent?

Yeah.

Well perhaps, you already command one of my wings.

The political one.

It's just how I imagined it.

Vast beyond all comprehension.

Nero never understood the mob.

He was too focused on building his stupid Golden House,

with its endless gardens and immense water features

and playing his lyre.

My father fell asleep in one of his tedious concerts,

and Nero banned him from his court.

He sent him wage war in Judea.

In the end,

suicide was Nero's last and only option.

And he needed to be helped with that.

Huh?

Down!

Stay back!

Hold back there!

Move!

A young hothead.

Please, Great Domitian,

understand he acted alone.

Continue! Moving on.

We could have all been killed!

Please brothers!

Please!

By the Gods, I'm late.

When can I see you again?

- When I can get away? - Midday?

Evening? Tonight?

We are nearly five weeks together and all you can think of is making love.

Do I?

I have to tell you something...

- Something important. - Tell me what is it?

Shhh...

Tonight.

Okay.

Go. Hurry.

Which one would you like? This one?

This one.

What's going on, Aura?

Now tell me...

I was there... I was there when the man tried to kill you...

And I knew something was wrong, I knew it and I should've turned around,

- I should have helped you. - Shhh, shhh...

I'm sorry.

Shhh...

Ah, Elia! Welcome back.

You're ready to go?

Did Ferox eat well this morning? Celery for the blood?

We fed them back in Baetica, and now we feed them even better here.

It's not like you to be late, little brother.

- I overslept. - In who's bed?

He wasn't home last night?

Nor this morning.

Can it be he has discovered more to life than horses?

Come,

let's see if you have become a man.

- A Spaniard. - There is nothing to tell.

Yet... your tunic is on the wrong way.

Come on!

Do you think our little lovebird spent the night alone or...

In a cosy nest, maybe?

I can see you are not in need of my help.

- So... - Elia!

Elia!

We're happy for you.

Perhaps, we can meet her, one day.

Never would I commit her to such an ordeal.

Andria!

The horses are ready.

Drinks tonight to celebrate!

It was tough today...

Yes, brother.

Just meant to say that this was all a terrible mistake.

Well, I can assure you. No one will hear of it.

Good luck out there.

Today's a good day, is it not?

The games may make one feel such.

They do. Increasingly, even for me.

But there's something more.

I, Titus

Caesar Vespasianus...

Give you this day's games.

On building civic baths!

Already two months under construction.

And I announce that I am giving our beloved Rome...

...an heir!

He learns more quickly than I expected.

Hey...

If only my mother and father were here to see this!

All of Rome at my feet.

Don't crow unless you win!

Chariots...

ready!

Andria's horses are flying!

He's gone! He's gone! Win me some money!

Thank the Gods that Andria was ahead of that one.

Fonsoa, I need your help!

Coming.

Andria, Andria!

Andria, Andria, Andria!

Hey, Scorpus...

Scorpus, what are you doing?

Scorpus!

Andria!

Come.

Get the physician! Clean the table! Hurry!

- Quickly! - Quickly.

Come on, come on!

I would like to have met her.

And you will.

Ever the optimist.

Yes.

Look after each other.

Promise me.

I will tell our mother...

...of our great adventure.

Brother...

Andria!

Andria!

No!

You fucking scum! You killed him.

He chose his line.

No, it was you. You pulled to the left.

Tell me what you saw.

He pushed Andria into the wreck. He boxed him in.

- Enough of this! - Touch Scorpus again, I'll have your head.

And I yours for killing my brother.

Andria is dead.

It was an accident.

It's over.

I offer my condolences.

It was a...

tragic accident.

No, you lie!

Ours is a dangerous game.

Your brother knew that.

Look at what happened to Xenon today.

He's right, Elia.

You don't believe me.

I just didn't see what you say you saw.

- He forced Andria into the shipwreck! - No.

- He boxed him in. - No.

You cannot be sure.

I will have nothing more to do with you...

or this Gold faction.

Plenty more stable hands.

Elia,

it wasn't Scorpus, it was a shipwreck.

It happens...

You are just as bad as he is.

You're usually a better liar than that.

As Scorpus said...

There are other stable hands, but there's only one Scorpus.

Oh...

foolish of me.

I thought I had seen a glimmer of decency in you.

And you, brother?

On whose side are you on?

May the winds take you to Elysium, where the Gods will it...

...we will meet again.

I never had the time or money to shed many tears for others.

Is that how you justify cruelty?

That's how I explain it.

You can lie to others.

But it's dangerous to lie to yourself.

You are no longer a child.

You can more than afford the luxury of compassion.

Old habits die hard.

Is that an apology?

Perhaps it is.

I don't care enough about you to want your apology.

Those are the ones who need it.

I thought ours was an arrangement of convenience,

to allow you to help your children.

I didn't know you'd try to make me a decent man.

I don't care enough about your decency...

or lack of it.

I used to chase you by the river Baetis when you were young,

now I do so again?

We're no longer playing children's games.

The last thing Andria would have wanted is that we are divided.

So come with me.

Elia!

Elia, wait!

If I were to walk away with you,

what of Salena and the boy?

Says the man who never walked past a brothel with a few coins in his pocket?

- That was before. - And this is now!

I can't turn my back on her.

Go on.

What else?

Scorpus and Tenax offered me a second driver with the Gold faction.

This city has twisted you in such a way that you would drive with the man

- who killed our brother. - Says you alone.

Then Scorpus has taken two brothers from me.

Elia!

So...

He refuses to eat

and he doesn't want to fight anymore.

He doesn't want to be our puppet.

How many weeks now?

Almost five, my lord.

And we only have two weeks until the Flavian Amphitheatre opens.

Hermes.

We've prepared some delicacies for you.

Figs...

Spanish olives,

oysters, you'll need your strength

for the opening fight at my Amphitheatre.

You should thank Flavius Domitianus for his favour.

Should we try that again?

Eat!

And you will fight!

Try with that one.

They're friends.

The one he spars with?

So...

should we put an arrow through the neck of this Northern barbarian?

I thank you for your gift...

...Flavius Domitianus.

Loyalty.

The dumb trait of the ignorant. You dog.

And I have the most delicious and entertaining way to kill that one.

Domitian likes a show...

It's not every day we get to dispatch Senators even...

...treacherous shits like these, no.

he'll want something special!

Something theatrical!

Perhaps if the Aedile Ludi himself were here,

we could please him.

You may be the new master of the games,

Tuccian.

But Domitian has made me, Legislator of the Aedile Ludi.

Do not question his authority,

or mine.

Of course. Forgive me.

I understand your reservations.

But trust me.

I grew up in those stinking stands,

I know what the mob wants to see.

We need to entertain them.

To excite them. To...

...thrill them.

Remember.

Enough is good.

More, is better.

Too much...

is perfect.

How hard would it be to flood the Amphitheatre?

This is too generous.

Accept it for your son,

if not for yourself.

What else am I going to do with all my earnings?

I can only drink so much wine.

On one condition:

this is a loan not a gift.

I will pay you back when I regain my shares.

- If I regain my shares. - You will.

Things will get better.

Fonsoa, what is it?

It's my brother.

I miss him.

What if Fonsoa is right?

What if it was just an accident?

I...

I didn't have a good view of it.

You seem to be the only one who did.

Xenon!

He was right there, he must have seen something.

There.

I'll leave it here.

Just rest now.

Scorpus.

I am so sorry, my friend.

Are you?

Or did you just come to see if it's actually true?

That Xenon is finished?

Nonsense,

you and I will race again soon.

I've...

bought gifts...

so Atargatis can ease your pain and speed up your recovery.

What's this?

A gift.

To pay for physicians...

anything you need or desire.

Thank you, but I have enough money to pay for my physicians.

Of course.

I seek only to lighten your burden.

You think a few coins will buy my silence?

I don't understand you.

Yes, you do.

You forced the young Spaniard into the spina,

I saw it.

No, you are mistaken.

You were injured, your mind was not clear.

No, Scorpus...

I saw what I saw.

You killed that boy.

And I insist that you confess to the faction owners.

I cannot do that.

I would lose everything; I would never race again.

Please.

Xenon...

After that evening,

I thought you and I were now friends.

Take your friendship...

and your gift...

And shove it up your ass.

Now get out!

And if you don't tell them...

...I will.

Xenon!

Xenon!

Where's the physician? Where is he?

He's not breathing.

He's not breathing.

That can't be true.

It's a... terrible thing.

Xenon...

is dead.

A loss for all of us.

You may have heard...

We no longer work for the Gold faction.

So, you seek work?

Yes.

No one in Rome knows and tends horses...

better than we do.

Sadly, we have a full complement

of stable hands and grooms.

You misunderstand us.

I wish to race.

To race?

Yes.

Are you a charioteer?

I've never seen you drive.

What is this?

Ah, these... these gentlemen are here on faction business.

Clearly.

And anything that concerns the Blue Faction

is my concern.

- This is Gavros, tender... - Yes, I know who he is.

Er... And this is Elia...

- brother of the Gold driver who died. - Mmh.

He has another brother still driving for the Gold.

Indeed.

Romulus and Remus.

He hopes to drive, but he's untrained and unproven.

Come closer.

Closer.

Your brother drives for the Gold.

Why would you race for the Blue?

Because Scorpus

drives for the Gold.

I will face him on the track,

...and I will defeat him.

- You said he's unproven? - Yes.

Then you must prove...

yourself.

Go to our stables and rig up.

I'll be there this evening.

There are hundreds of young men wishing to drive for the Blue.

Why give him a chance?

The one thing that sets him apart:

his hatred.

You could have told me you wanted to drive.

Was it such a surprise?

Not really.

But still...

you should have told me.

See you at the stables.

I have been wanting to see you.

I heard about your brother.

My heart bleeds.

There's nothing anyone can do.

I have to tell you something.

And I need to tell you something too.

I'm going back home.

To Spain, to Baetica.

What?

I must do something first.

But as soon as I can,

I'm leaving.

I am sorry.

My Emperor.

Porto tells me you have an accusation to make.

No, I merely have information to impart, Lord Titus.

Don't play with words.

Treat this like field report on campaign.

I believe your brother Domitian is responsible for the grain delays...

...and food riots.

Do you have proof?

A navigator on one of the grain ships, it sank off the coast of Sicily,

but he was rescued,

and then arrested.

A witness is being escorted here as we speak.

How does telling me this benefit you?

I seek only to serve you and serve Rome.

I have many clients,

open and secret, in the Senate,

enough to sway any vote.

I offer you full and sustained support for your construction projects.

And in return you want?

Financial participation in the Flavian Amphitheatre.

That's a strange desire, there's no profit in that, only costs.

For now...

Done.

Porto, post your most trusted man in Ostia to wait for this navigator.

Bring him before me as soon as he arrives.

You have my thanks and my loyalty, Caesar.

I'm only interested in the latter.

You may go.

I have to say brother, I've seen you with steadier aim.

Nothing used to unnerve you.

Even father's cough.

Leave us.

Greeks, they say that

forgiveness is easier to grant, when it's preceded by confession.

And what do you wish me to confess?

I'm told by Senator Leto that his shipping agents

have found proof that you delayed the grain.

Brother, I cannot confess to something I didn't do.

Apparently...

there was a witness en route to Rome,

who will corroborate everything.

'Apparently' covers a wide range of outcomes,

and Leto is a self-serving, ambitious

Patrician...

who's resented our ascendancy from the start.

I know these things.

And yet you ask me to confess to some apparent misdeed.

Not quite.

I'm learning how to play this game from you.

So, I'm telling you an accusation about you

and I'm watching how you respond.

And what do you see?

That's the part I'm still learning.

I see either a somewhat strange but loyal brother...

...or the best liar I have ever seen.

Domus, I think you will be pleased with the show I've devised.

You have failed me. You were to cover my tracks for the grain delays.

A navigator from a grain ship has survived. He's being brought here to Rome

to testify to Titus.

Then we kill him.

His dead words, against your living ones.

- Where is he? - It's too late for that.

He's made a written testimony.

All that's left is for him to confirm it with my brother.

If it's too late to kill him... then what?

We kill my brother.

The moment is upon us: kill or be killed.

Alright...

Who among the Praetorians can we buy?

Hermes!

Domitian!

Come.

Join us.

Take him.

What?

No. No.

No!

Domitian, please, please. I don't understand.

Not... without...

my permission.

I'm so sorry.

I'm sorry!

I'm sorry, no!

Please, please...

No! Please!

No!

No.

Here. This is everything he paid me.

Sit down.

Iris, come home with me.

You're coming with me.

Where are you going?

She's my property, you bitch.

If you go near her again,

I will kill you slowly.

Bitch.

Iris, come!

Troubled?

You as well?

My daughter Aura,

she is no longer mine.

I lost her

to Rome.

You told me...

it's fine to lie to others, but dangerous to lie to yourself.

I took that to heart.

You are learning.

I may not be quite the scum you think I am.

There is a chance I am of Patrician blood.

You Romans are so foolish.

You think blood matters.

In Rome, blood is everything.

With the right blood a man can do anything.

The whole world opens up before him.

And will your new high-born friends ignore the stench

of where you've been and what you've done?

They've ignored worse.

I can't tell if you are excited or frightened.

Frightened.

I have to do something terrible.

Which would have once given me pleasure

but now...

if I am a Roman of the first order...

terrifies me.

Then only think of the pleasure.

No.

Not...

Not, what?

Not yet?

I didn't say that.

But you were thinking it.

Perhaps.

In Samnia, I have a cousin,

he worked underground,

in an ossuary.

Draining fluids from the dead,

preparing them for the crypts.

There is nothing lower.

He escaped that.

- He took his own life? - No.

He enrolled, by free will

as a Gladiator at the Ludus Magnus.

You mean he wasn't a slave?

Many are slaves.

But some come there by choice.

Choosing death by another's hand.

Maybe not.

It's been three years and he's still alive.

He eats, he has a place to sleep,

and he's treated with respect.

And it's not just men.

They enlist women as gladiators as well.

Women?

The crowd finds it amusing.

But sometimes

a woman fights so well

that they stop laughing.

Hey, shhh...

Hey.

Easy, easy.

Incitatus.

You are hungry, huh?

Here.

There you go, boy.

Back home in Spain,

my grandfather used to say,

horses are prey,

and men...

are predators.

To get a horse to run you must convince them...

...that we are not what we truly are...

killers.

First you let them know that you are not going to hurt them.

Oh, shhh...

But that is not enough.

To get a horse to run is easy.

But to get him to really fly...

for him to give his heart and soul...

and sweat and muscle...

I must love him...

...and he must know it.

And if I tell him the right way,

how much I love him...

he will do anything for me.

You made a bad bet.

I don't know...

Perhaps Titus won't be Emperor for much longer.

There's too much of the soldier in him.

Not enough politician.

- Who will supplant him? - Domitian.

Of course.

And if that were to happen, all those loyal to Titus

would likely die with him.

Nobody likes loose ends.

Rome has had warrior rulers who died as old men.

In war time maybe.

But this is peace...

far more dangerous.

In peace you don't want warriors...

you want street fighters.

Ten million sesterces in gold,

two days from now. Here, in this place.

And if you try to bargain,

it merely tells me Domitian

lacks the resources to succeed, and I will kill you

and report his treason to Titus.

Two days.

Domitian is closer to death than you think.

And if he dies, so will his friends.

Nobody likes loose ends.

Ten million...

two days.

Whoah, whoah.

Easy...

Andria!

Did you know?

He's fast...

Very fast.