Utica*
* Town in nowadays Tunisia.
*
February, the 6th 46 b.C. This battle opposes Caesar’s troops to around 10 legions raised by Cato and Metellus Scipio, joined to the king Juba the Ist of Numidia. Caesar tells his fith legion to hit the elephants’ paws with axes. After this victory, elephant became the symbol of this legion.
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.
We should go.
Where ?
Utica is 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.
Bring water for washing.
And bread... and wine.
I think I shall make myself drunk tonight.
Perhaps just this once you will join me.
I think not.
Cheer up. We live.
We do. We live.
And where there's life, there's hope.
I'm afraid if we have done anything, old friend,
we've disproved that proverb.
Aquinas, this bread is stubborn.
Give me your knife.
Scipio...
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.
Help !
Send them away.
Do it now.
Cut deep, boy.
Goodbye, sir*.
* Actually, Metellus Scipio was killed in the battle of Thapsus with the army. Cato wasn't on the battlefield and committed suicide in Utica when he heard of the defeat, before Caesar came.
We thank you so much.
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 sun has risen
and banished Pompeian night forever !
Happy day on which our brave soldiers
have come home to their families !
Happy day !
- Salve. - Welcome back.
- Are you home for good now ? - I am. I am.
No more soldiering for me.
Bona dea !
It's nice, isn't it ?
It is.
Who are these ?
I bought them last year.
Four slaves we have now ?
They were a good price.
On a soldier's wage ?
The butcher shop paid for them with plenty to spare.
The butcher shop ?
Me and Lyde have made a nice business out of it.
Five hundred head a week sometimes.
Pigs mostly, but some sheep and cows for the religious trade.
Eirene !
- 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.
I brought you something.
Here, let me.
Lovely.
Parentalia* begins on the Ides*.
* Feast for appeasing dead parents with visits of the family tombs and little sacrifices. They begin on the Ides of February (13th) and last until the 22nd.
Temples will be shut,
and no wedding celebrated.
Public festivals shall be at the fifth* hour in the circus.
* That is to say, 11 a.m. (not 5 o' clock).
Wine to be provided by the Capitoline 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 ?
Are you still fucking my mother ?
When she'll have me.
That would explain your excessive familiarity.
Excuse me.
That's all right.
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.
Timon, I'll, uh... see you later.
Please, mother, we will be late.
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 Atia.
Certainly not. I will go.
Not to be there would be seen as weakness.
Perhaps it will do you good to see him.
See that he is just a man.
The loss of his affection is not worth
this endless raging sorrow.
I feel neither rage nor 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, sir ? Germany perhaps ?
I'm afraid I must put on a triumph this next month,
and they're damnable beasts to organize.
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. - We are joyful to be here.
- Joyful, indeed. - Is this a mourning shawl ?
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, neh ?
It's not 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 have 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 am 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 ?
How would you proceed, were you me ?
Proceed with ?
Putting the republic to rights.
How to proceed.
I would start a large program of public works...
Employ citizens and free men,
repair the aqueducts,
levee the river... That sort of thing.
I would create at least 100 or so new senators,
that I could be sure were my creatures rather than my secret enemies.
What is your point, Octavian ?
I did not mean you, Brutus,
you're a man of honor.
I believe that your capitulation is sincere.
How nice of you to say so.
I just had a thought.
Did not your man Aelius Siculus die recently ?
I'm afraid he did. In Thapsus, in fact.
Just so. You shall take his seat at the pontiffs' table.
Pontiff ? So young ?
I was not so much older when I entered the college.
Very true, but...
I believe I have the authority
- to appoint whom I like. - Indeed, yes.
This is a great honor. 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 had rather thought to concentrate on my poetry for a while.
He'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
and your father was just here.
Now coming towards us on the plain
with all their legions, cavalry
And 900* war elephants,
* They're would actually be only 60.
Scipio and Juba.
"Hold fast," says general Caesar, "let the bastards come !"
- I'll do it. - Please, don't, master.
This is my work. Lady will be angry.
Who's master, eh ?
...ballistas on the city walls, and the front line thinks
they've heard the order to advance, so before the officers can stop it,
The whole fucking army charges on Scipio's men double tempo.
Now, the elephants...
Elephants see us come running and screaming
and they turn tail and charge on their own lines...
Boom ! Chaos !
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 will give you something to do.
This is fine work for a prefect, eh ?
- Smells like old times. - It does that.
You remember that little siege at Avaricum* ?
* City in Gaul, known today as Bourges, France. The city was conquered by Caesar during the Gallic Wars, after a night attack.
You'll not learn a trade sitting on your pugas*.
* Puga = Latin word for "bottock"
There's plenty more carcasses to be hung.
Tomorrow ! You'll have your money tomorrow !
- Let's take his nose off. - No, not me no...
Hey, stop that !
Take your business elsewhere.
- What's it to you, you bastard ? - It's bad for trade.
And who the fuck are you, little man ?
- I am Lucius Vorenus, - I know you.
Soldier boy, isn't it ? Up by the dyeworks, 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
and 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 Erastes Fulmen's people.
He won't take disrespect like that.
You hit him !
It was nothing !
Erastes Fulmen will kill you.
He's just a crook.
He used to be !
Since Pompey's gangs 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 !
* The lower citizens. They own nothing.
I was prefect in the evocati !
Caesar himself gave me a horse.
Thank you, sir.
I hope that dinner was not too painful for you.
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.
Stop.
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.
- Once she gets an idea... - 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 gods' 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 ?
Yes, it would.
What are you reading ?
A guide to the interpretation of prodigies.
Is it good ?
It's dull beyond conception.
If I am to be a pontiff, I must be familiar with their ludicrous jargon.
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."*
* These lines are freely adapted from Catullus (poem II). Catullus wasn't any Caesar's partisan and wrote invectives against him. I'm not the author of the following English translation but it's a complete translation much better than the one of the show: "Sparrow, my sweet girl’s delight, whom she plays with, holds to her breast, whom, greedy, she gives her little finger to, often provoking you to a sharp bite, whenever my shining desire wishes to play with something she loves, I suppose, while strong passion abates, it might be a small relief from her pain: might I toy with you as she does and ease the cares of a sad mind !"
- 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.
The one you told mother about.
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 and meddle in our affairs ?
- Highly improbable. - You don't trust me.
I do trust you. You are my dearest friend.
- Then tell me ! - Why this in particular ?
Why 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.
Please, like what ?
I've tortured and killed a man.
Liar.
Do you remember Lucius Vorenus ?
One of the soldiers who rescued me in Gaul ?
- You killed him ? - Of course not.
He has a wife who deceived him.
A 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.
Try again.
What ?
Get out of the way !
Centurion !
Lucius Vorenus !
Niobe !
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 Vorenus
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.
- You've said your piece ? - I have.
Then leave now.
Good day to you.
So the wife of this Lucius Vorenus 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 is 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 ?
A 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.
Your 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 Timon's men.
Sorry.
- Do as Lyde says. - Please, mama, come with us.
My place is here with your father.
But 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 blessing.
Can't you get Vorenus to do as Erastes 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.
Always remember that you are children of the Vorenii,
an old and respected name.
And always remember that we love you.
I love you very much.
Now go on.
Go, go.
Goodbye, sister.
Eirene, are you going to leave this mess on the table ?
Please, Niobe, please, go with them.
I will not and stop asking.
Good bread this.
I bought the better kind.
Hang the expense, eh ?
Get back. Make way there.
Run and hide.
Here comes the consul Gaius Julius Caesar,
son of Venus*, imperator** of the gallic legions.
*Caesar's family, the Julii, pretends to be the descendants of Iulus, Venus' grand-son by the Troyan Enea. ** "imperator" doesn't mean "empereor" but "general".
Salve, Lucius Vorenus.
Oh, coward !
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, Vorenus,
and I am told you are a man of respect among your people here.
- I hope so. - That being so, I've come
to ask you to stand for magistrate of lower Aventine*...
* Aventine is one of the 7 hills of Rome. It's actually formed by two little peaks, the first one near the river Tiber and the second (lower Aventine), more in the South. In the Republic, it was always a working-class area.
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.
* Not in the modern meaning. The dictator is an exceptional magistrate in the republic, in a state of crisis. His charge is for six months and legally receives the full powers from the Senate and the Roman people.
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 ?
Hail Caesar ! Hail !
Hail Caesar !
Caesar ! Caesar ! Caesar !
A little more, I think.
No, the sleeves are fine, leave those alone.
You just be careful what you're doing with that pin.
Yes. Now, if you could go around the side...
At the hem, at the bottom...
That needs taking up a little bit there.
There. No, that's fine.
I don't know. That just isn't working for me.
Were you looking for anything in particular ?
Not really.
Do you have anything comical ?
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 ? Have Castor 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 have 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.
Brother, tell me something...
What do you mean, "ah" ?
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.
The point is, you're not the woman to do such wrong out of mere lust.
Ergo*, you must have another purpose.
* ergo = therefore
I suspect you shall renew your strange interest in Caesar's health.
Wha... What have I done ? What have I done ?
What ?
What have you done ? Tell me.
Promise.
Promise you won't tell mother.
Look at you.
You look like laundry*.
* Togas of citizens standing for any charge are chalk-whitened.
There.
Does it look well ?
Very well.
It feels 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 have not even begun to get angry !
Enough !
I am your son but not your child.
You will not strike me anymore.
Will I not ?
You fucked your sister, you little pervert !
Don't tell me what I will and will not do !
Be quiet !
You wouldn't dare.
How could you do this to me ?
My own child.
You killed my husband.
I told you, didn't I ? I told you
- I didn't kill him ! - You're a liar !
Servilia 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 !
- I don't know. - Servilia is the liar, you fool !
She lied to turn you against me.
My poor lamb.
Eirene ?
Eirene !
Coming, master.
Sit down.
Have a drink with me.
My mother had hair like yours.
Grey eyes though.
Big grey eyes.
Slave... on one of those farms up North.
Smelled of pine trees.
Worked in the woodyards, probably.
That's what I think. Explains the pine smell.
Don't know who my father was.
Just another slave probably.
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 !
- Quiet ! - Keep it down !
Suck my cock, the lot of yez !
I'm Titus 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.
Come here.
Closer.
Take off your dress.
What's the hat for ?
Yom kippur.
Is that today ?
You call yourself a Jew ?
What ? Are you my rebbe now ?
Move ! Move ! Vos* !
* Vos = all of you
No !
Quick ! Grab her ! Grab her !
Strip her !
No ! No !
Somebody help her !
Come to save me.
Keep me, protect me ! Keep me, protect me !
Come to save me, keep me, keep me, protect me !
No !
Let's go !