If we're to get an early start in the morning--
What will it be tomorrow ?
More wheat ? What I've seen already...
could feed more legions than Rome has ever had.
There is enough to feed the world.
More gold then.
Why not buy the world ? Surely, you must have enough.
At least enough to pay more legions than even Rome has ever had.
More granite, more marble,
more millions of slaves to build whatever needs building.
Better routes to India, shorter routes to the East.
What can it be in Egypt that I haven't seen ?
Egypt itself. The reason for Egypt.
My responsibility is Rome.
Alexander understood it,
that from Egypt, he could rule the world.
He was very young. And you, even younger.
At your age, such dreams have a reality which grows less in time.
Caesar no longer dreams ?
Dangerous to a man of my calling.
Necessary, I would have thought.
I cannot stay away from Rome too long. There are problems.
Messages from Marc Antony endlessly demanding my return.
And on my way back, wars to be fought in the east and north.
Even in Rome itself, I'm not without opposition.
Do to them what you did to Achillas.
This is opposition of a different sort.
They weave it cleverly light, like a cobweb.
You know what happens when cobwebs are not regularly swept away.
Do you trust this... Marc Antony ?
If anyone in the world, I trust Antony.
Well, let him brush away the cobwebs for you, and stay with me.
You've been declared dictator for a year.
You can do what you want to with your time.
Everything but make it stand still.
If, when you return to Rome,
these wars that have to be fought on the way, are they important ?
Well, there's no such thing as an unimportant war.
I've been reading in your commentaries about your campaigns in Gaul.
How does my writing compare with Catallus ?
Well, it's different.
Dull.
Perhaps a little too much description.
You're being tactful. Some of my critics-- Brutus, for one--
tell me my Latin is not only ungrammatical, but common.
You spared his life more than once.
People say it's because Brutus is your son. Is that true ?
I have no son.
- Calpurnia, your third wife. - Fourth.
Married to you, how long ? Twelve years ?
And still, Caesar has no son, no child at all.
It is well known that Calpurnia is barren.
A woman who cannot bear children...
is like a river that is dry.
I see no purpose in discussing the subject further.
A woman, too, must make the barren land fruitful.
She must make life grow where there was no life.
Just as the Mother Nile feeds and replenishes the earth.
I am the Nile.
I will bear many sons.
Isis has told me.
My breasts are filled with love and life.
My hips are rounded and well apart.
Such women, they say, have sons.
That first time when you stood here alone, why did you cry ?
Will you tell me now ?
Because I had lost something.
- What ? - A lifetime.
- Mine. - Nonsense.
Having conquered the world, he died at 32.
I am 52.
My remaining ambition is to keep the world from conquering me.
Your ambitions must always have been his.
They still must be.
Shall I tell you something ?
When I was 32 in Spain,
I came upon a statue of Alexander.
I wept then too.
Even then.
I want you to have his sword to take back with you.
- Too deeply embedded. - It can be removed.
It's buried in time.
- And Alexander's mantle ? - Too heavy for Caesar.
His dream then.
Make his dream yours, Caesar.
His grand design.
Pick it up where he left off.
Out of the patchwork of conquests,
one world.
And out of one world, one nation.
One people on Earth living in peace.
So, you have told me, at last, what it is you want of me.
Of us !
And the center, the capital of this one world,
one people, one nation: Alexandria ?
- He chose it. - I am Roman.
He was Greek ! What will it matter when we're all one people ?
I am 52. He was 32 and failed.
We will succeed.
Your dreams, your ambitions.
One lifetime is not enough for such dreams, such ambitions.
The cloak of Alexander cannot be too heavy...
for Rome and Egypt to carry together.
And what if his sword is too deeply embedded ?
Yours will replace it, Caesar.
You have a way of mixing politics and passion.
Where does one begin and the other leave off ?
That did not start, nor will it end with me.
Cleopatra, whatever it is, however it comes out,
leave me my destiny.
Your destiny is no longer just yours.
It's mine too.
Soon, there will be someone to carry both the cloak of Alexander...
and the sword of Caesar and the name of Caesar.
And in that name, he will rule Egypt.
And what ever part or all of the world that we give him,
ours child,
will be a son for you, Caesar.
I came as quick as I could.
Antony is welcome to Caesar's house...
as often and as quickly as he likes.
As Caesar's wife, before the truth is distorted into vicious Roman gossip,
- I wanted you to hear -- - That my husband has married Queen Cleopatra.
There's some fresh wine. One of your many favorites.
The ceremony, according to vicious gossip, was in the Egyptian religion.
Even if true, that can't be meant or taken seriously.
During which, he was formally declared an Egyptian god.
Officially divine, at last.
That must have pleased Caesar.
Calpurnia, we know Caesar, you and I.
This so-called marriage has no validity under Roman law.
There must have been political purpose to it.
Perhaps a symbolic ceremony to ratify Rome's alliance with Egypt.
Perhaps merely... indulging some barbaric custom.
You've been loyal and kind.
You came as quickly as you could.
Unhappily, vicious gossip travels even faster than you...
and the truth.
Have you heard, for instance, that Queen Cleopatra is carrying Caesar's child ?
Yes, Antony.
We know him, you and I.
There shall be--
There shall be... Rome,
mighty and alone and unloved.
A mistress.
A mistress shall raise thee again from Earth to heaven,
and all the world shall know a golden age of justice and of love.
A son shall be born to Isis !
Rome shall know him in cloth of gold.
The East shall see him laden with jewels and treasure.
A son of Egypt and of Rome!
Here shall he find his destiny !
Do exactly as I tell you.
When the child is born,
after he is anointed and named royal prince,
- take him to Caesar. - Bring Caesar here ?
No ! Exactly as I tell you.
Take the child to Caesar, in front of his men.
Do you understand ?
In front of all the Romans.
Lay him at Caesar's feet.
At Caesar's feet.
I will do just as you say.
Fear not. We have never lost a Caesar.
That remark was not only insubordinate, but in bad taste ! I--
Caesar, remember Roman law.
If you pick up this child before witnesses, you acknowledge it's yours...
and a citizen of Rome, as your heir.
- A son.
I have a son !
- Hail Caesar ! - Hail Caesar !
He has been made king of Egypt.
He and his Egyptian queen have named their bastard Caesarion.
Prince Caesarion.
What better name for the heir to the throne of Rome.
There is no throne of Rome.
Nor shall there be, nor would Caesar tolerate one.
But a son !
We all know how much he's always wanted one. I am happy for Caesar.
Well, your happiness is understandable enough.
Now that Caesar has publicly recognized a son,
one need no longer wonder about Brutus.
Is it a relief not to be wondered about, Casca ?
To be known openly as you are for what you are:
liar, swindler, bully and coward.
Brutus, you'll turn Casca's head with your flattery.
And Casca's head, if turned, will see Marc Antony.
Apart of Caesar more to be feared, I think, than his infant son.
But it is for the good of Rome that Caesar has stayed so long in Egypt.
In his absence, the people have come to worship him as a god.
Why should he return to show himself as mortal as the rest ?
There are those who fear Caesar's ambition.
But what is there to fear ? That he will destroy the republic ?
Yes, he will.
I promise you he will.
Your tongue is old, but sharp, Cicero.
Be careful how you waggle it. One day it will cut off your head.
It will more likely be your sword, Antony. 'Tis just as sharp and quicker...
and frightened of heads.
There'll be a strong smell of wine in the Senate today.
We must breathe with restraint.
Octavian, this-- what's his name-- this son of Caesar,
does it upset you ?
- No. - You run off at the mouth so.
One would think your words were as precious to you as your gold.
Like my gold, I use them where they are worth most.
And your virtue ? My friend has a friend.
That too.
You know, it's quite possible, Octavian,
that when you die,
you will die without ever having been alive.
I can't leave without saying good-bye to my son, to you.
We thought, your son and I, that if we came to you,
we would have those few minutes more.
A good thing to remember, my son,
what you will not let go, no one will take from you.
Hail and farewell, little Caesar.
Was it a century ago when I was dropped at your feet, wrapped in a carpet ?
Or was it last night ?
When will you send for us ? When ?
- Soon. - How soon ? When ?
So much time must go by before even I reach Rome.
And then how soon ?
It will not be easy, but within reasonable time.
Time is never reasonable.
Time is our enemy, Caesar.
Am I to conquer it for you ? What plan of battle do you suggest ?
I must bring your son to Rome.
Rome must see Caesar's son...
who will one day rule over Caesar's world.
Caesar?
I'm afraid that the tides will soon be against you.
Not only time, but the tides.
Even as divinities, there seems little we can do about either.
But only after more than two years...
and many wars in Africa and Asia Minor...
was Caesar able to cross over to Italy and come home at last...
to celebrate his triumphs and see to his affairs.
''In recognition of which, the Senate has be stowed upon Caesar...
the rank, privilege and title of dictator of Rome for life.''
Dictator for life.
At long last, he is master of Rome.
Apollodorus, everything must be made ready at once.
- Ships, servants-- - We've been ready for some time.
Surely now nothing can prevent his sending for us.
Why, If only to attend his coronation as he attended mine.
- Your Majesty-- - Three long, wasted years !
Why should the Senate have taken so long...
to recognize what the world has already known,
that Caesar was master of Rome ?
Rufio wishes to speak.
Your Majesty seems to misunderstand.
It seems quite clear. Caesar has been declared dictator of Rome for life.
True, however to the Roman, there is a vast difference between dictator and master.
No man can call himself master of Rome.
Why not ?
It has a meaning far too close to a word no Roman will tolerate:
king.
And to be dictator of Rome for life ?
Is to be granted the lifelong respect and honor of the Roman people.
And the dictates of the dictator ?
Must, in each case, of course, be approved... by the Senate of Rome.
Thank you, Rufio.
The enemy! The enemy! The enemy!
The enemy ! The enemy ! The enemy ! The enemy !
Sisogenes.
I suppose you think it's odd that I should propose such an invitation...
to Queen Cleopatra.
- Do you ? - Egypt, after all,
has been officially declared ally of Rome.
Still, I must confess I was surprised at some of those...
- who voted in favor. - Were you ?
May I express, once more, my gratitude...
for being permitted to attend today's session as a visitor ?
It was truly inspiring, Caesar,
to witness the free will of free men so fearlessly expressed.
He seemed most anxious to be present.
I saw no harm in granting him permission.
- Didn't you ? - After today, never again shall I doubt...
the extent of Egypt's wealth.
I don't like Cicero's implication.
There's not enough gold in Egypt to buy the honor of a Roman senator.
More than enough, it seems, to buy his vote.
How was it now ?
'' Rome will know him in cloth of gold.''
According to reports, the reception in the streets has been extraordinary.
The queen has given instructions for the procession to move as slowly as the people wish...
for their full enjoyment.
I might almost believe that Cleopatra set out to capture the citizens of Rome.
One would have every reason for believing exactly that.
Nothing like this has come into Rome since Romulus and Remus.
- How unafraid he is. - Hmm ?
How unafraid he is.
Your queen has conquered the people of Rome.
People, yes.
Now, then, walk like a king. Head up.
Listen to them cheer.
Take your throne. Bow to the right, left.
Now an angry glance at someone who's displeased you.
Very good. I tremble. See me tremble ?
No. Don't smile.
Not when they're trembling. It makes them stop.
Now the prisoners they drag before you, one by one.
This one has no power anywhere, therefore means nothing.
But you wish to be known as a noble ruler. What do you say ?
I ''par do'' you.
Louder, boy. You're going to pardon somebody, you want it known.
I ''par do'' you !
Hmm. Ah, now, who comes here ?
Once your friend. You trusted him, and he turned against you.
He has power, wealth and family.
He kneels before you. He begs you to be his friend again,
to have you trust him again.
And then... what then, little king ?
- Crrrck !
Caesar must wish what needs commanding.
To drain the Pontine Marshes. To free Rome from malaria.
To fill my belly.
To control the Tiber's floods and divert its course.
To improve the harbor at Ostia. To please my ambition.
And must I wish roads to be built, libraries for public use ?
The free men of Italy to be equal citizens to those of Rome ?
Many of these have merits, Caesar, and merit our approval.
Merit your approval. Is Caesar to come before the Senate each day...
like a schoolboy with his lessons, now passing, now failing ?
Do you suggest that the Senate...
no longer deliberate the welfare of Rome ?
Do you suggest an end to the process of Roman law ?
I must be the law. And my word must be the welfare of Rome.
Else, take from me this meaningless title of dictator.
I've carried a sword for too long.
I cannot now pretend with an empty scabbard.
Surely, Caesar must recall the symbolic nature of the title dictator...
at the time it was conferred upon him.
It was to honor Caesar above all men...
and to indicate the gratitude of Rome for Caesar's triumphs in its name.
Brutus, I recall them well, those triumphs.
Do you ?
Pharsalia, for one, when you trembled in Antony's hand...
when Antony was hot to separate you from your head...
with just cause.
It was by my command that your life was spared.
There was no deliberating body. It was not by my wish, but by my command.
By my dictate, if you will, that you stand here tonight.
dribbling virtue out of the corners of your mouth.
Sit down.
No, I want no more meaningless privileges and considerations.
No more honors designed to pacify me.
I would far rather have nothing. Remain what I am, at heart,
a humble man, anxious only to serve.
Why are the eyes of a statue always without life ?
Have any of you here seen the Nile ?
Spare yourselves the journey.
She carries it within her eyes.
I suggest, Caesar, that the hour is late.
Very late for Rome.
I was speaking, Cassius ! I was--
Now, where was I ?
Anxious to serve.
Yes, I've served, served for all of my life.
I've won for Rome more than half of the world.
Most of you here owe your honors and your fortunes to me.
And now I want you to do as I say.
You will appoint me... emperor of Rome.
There is no need to resume your seats.
May I, on be half of all, once again...
thank you, Gracious Majesty, for your hospitality.
Good night.
Thank you and good night.
They resent being summoned here, Caesar,
for meetings more properly held in the Senate.
Resent it, do they ?
I cannot understand that the eyes of a statue...
Are you quite sure what it is you want... so desperately ?
I've always been sure.
And Caesar ?
Does anyone speak for him ?
No.
Good night.
Tell me, Brutus, is it proper to stand before this new goddess,
which Caesar has set here in the temple, or must we, as Romans, kneel ?
By that honor and by the responsibility you carry,
Brutus, save Rome from Caesar !
You cannot ask me to destroy him.
Then let Caesar destroy Rome.
Antony has just come from a meeting of my friends, with good news.
Tomorrow at the Senate, Lucius Cotta will move that I be made king.
It will pass.
But... I don't understand.
King and emperor.
And it will pass ?
For the last few months, I've been quietly enjoying...
one of the few privileges of being dictator.
I have been appointing senators.
Slightly more than half the Senate has, at the moment,
been appointed by me.
Once again, the army of Mithradates...
on its way all the time.
Why-- Why then not only Rome,
but this whole peninsula of Italy, upon which Rome stands,
must fall in your hands like a drop of sweat.
Let them make you king or whatever they choose, wherever they choose.
Let me serve with you. My legions with yours.
To get her we'll conquer for Caesar a world...
beyond the wildest dreams of even-- even Alexander.
Rome. What was Rome when Sulla died,
when Crassus lost the armies in Parthia ?
These same men came after me through the streets,
howling like frightened dogs.
"Caesar, save us !"
They would've made me king then.
- I wouldn't let them then.
He was thrown over the wall. It's not a pretty sight. It might be better if--
Titus, the moneylender.
Why should anyone kill him as savagely as this and bring him here ?
Obviously, I am being warned.
Perhaps I am next.
They dare to threaten you ?
- Caesarion. Where was my son-- - Not far away.
It frightened him.
Lepidus. How many legions has he now ?
- Fifteen. Perhaps more. - Where ?
- Scythia. - We will dine with Lepidus tonight, you and I.
We'll talk of armies and battlefields and lists of men to die.
And tomorrow in the Senate, let them offer so much as the sands of Libya as my kingdom,
I will accept.
This is great Caesar, beloved by Rome,
and at least one of us...
who must die so that Rome may live.
If the world is to know that it is Rome that will not have a king,
then let us make it the honorable and open act...
of free men in the light of day.
In the light of what day, Brutus ?
Tomorrow ?
In the curia of the Senate.
And shall we be armed, all of us ?
Decimus, you will come to Caesar's villa early tomorrow to escort him to the Senate.
Cimber, Marc Antony must not enter the curia with Caesar.
On some pretext, you must lead him aside...
to speak perhaps of what you heard at Lepidus' house tonight.
I remember something odd.
At one point, Caesar suddenly asked of each of us...
what manner of death we would choose.
And Caesar, when it came to him, looked straight at me and said,
"Sudden."
Odd, isn't it ?
I was afraid I'd find you still asleep.
Caesarion is. He was awake most of the night.
Did the storm frighten him ?
He said not, but it did. I could tell.
Have you time to come in ?
Decimus is waiting. He came by early this morning....
expressly to accompany me to the Senate.
Decimus ? Has he done this before ?
A shrewd politician. He hopes to benefit by arriving with me,
this day of days.
Keep Antony close by.
You too ?
The ladies of Rome seem to have caught each other's fears this morning,
like a head cold.
Calpurnia actually pleaded with me not to go to the Senate at all.
Why ? Why would she not want you to go ?
Oh, the bad night. Nothing else.
She awoke screaming in her sleep. The thunder, the lightning.
She dreamed that she saw me murdered, that she saw me...
or a statue of me covered in blood.
And the servants. The servants told her of seeing men of fire in the heavens,
odd happenings in the city and so forth.
Strange and solitary birds were seen in the Forum.
They said one flew into the Senate itself,
carrying a sprig of laurel, which it dropped at the base of Pompey's statue.
Pompey ?
- Caesar, I'm afraid. - You must not tell me to stay away.
Shall I, too, be afraid ?
Can it be said of Caesar that he gave up the world because of a thunder storm ?
That such divinity that was in him ran before mortal superstition ?
I feel that you need me now, and I cannot help you.
Then help me to live as I have lived:
always differently from the rest.
The others, for whom life is merely an endless fear of dying.
Your gods and mine go with you, Caesar.
The world, except for you, is filled with little men.
Fire burns.
The winds of destruction blow.
Rome, mighty and alone,
the winds of destruction blow down upon thee !
Storm sand hail shall cut down wheat,
shall cut down birds and living things of Earth.
The heavens...
and the gods themselves.
My son !
Caesar! Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
Caesar ! Caesar ! Caesar ! Caesar !
I would have come sooner, but there was much to do.
And it seems you have done it extremely well.
Is that where--
Yes.
In Egypt, we build eternal monuments to our dead heroes.
Here, you burn them like rubbish. Good-bye.
I've brought some of the 10th Legion with me, and Rufio. You have nothing to fear.
Nothing to fear ? That's no reason for staying.
So much has happened so quickly.
Suddenly I have the pieces of a broken world to pick up.
Caesar, you running off at night like this.
Do you suggest that I stay? Why?
Don't ask me to be clear about my feelings right now. I'm tired.
And with you, even at my best, it's never easy to say my meaning.
But you speak so well, Antony.
I've been told how excitingly you read Caesar's will...
to the sobbing, murdering, free citizens of Rome,
naming as his heir his great nephew, Octavian.
I knew Caesar's will and the reasons for it.
If Octavian had not been named, how many hours, how many minutes...
would you and your son have survived, do you think?
And if Caesar had become truly king,
do you believe he would still have named Octavian?
In any case, it's over.
Caesar and the dream that was murdered with him.
First Alexander's...
then Caesar's.
Now over. Finished.
- First, Rome must be put in order. - Rome again.
Brutus, Cassius, some of the others have escaped. They must be hunted down and killed.
- And then? - Then in death, Caesar must be granted the power and title...
he was denied in life, deified even.
A dead king, a dead god. Safe enough even for Rome.
Caesarion as Caesar's son could claim both the title of king and his deification.
And to what court of law would my son and I take our claim?
I will present it to the Roman Senate myself.
I believe you would.
And after the noble senators have stopped laughing,
do my son and I then declare war on Rome?
No. For this, a Caesar would be needed.
You have very little time.
Another Caesar.
But thank you. I shall remember your kindness to us.
- You give up too easily. - Do I ?
Let me come to Alexandria and talk more with you.
- Whenever you like. - Now. Tonight, if I could.
In any case, try to remember.