Yes, at the far end.
- Senator Gaius. - Hello.
Senator Gracchus.
Don't often see you enjoying the pleasures of the vulgar crowd.
I don't pretend to be a man ofthe people, Senator.
But I do try to be a man for the people.
Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
Caesar! Caesar!
Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
People ofRome!
On the fourth day of Antioch,
we can celebrate the 64th day of the games.
And, in his majestic charity,
the Emperor has deigned this day to favor the people ofRome...
with an historical final match.
Returning to the Colosseum today...
after five years in retirement, Caesar...
is pleased to bring you the only...
undefeated champion...
- Yah! Yah! - in Roman history,
the legendary Tigris of Gaul!
Whoa! Whoa!
He knows too well how to manipulate the mob.
Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome, Proximo.
This is not it! This is not it!
Marcus Aurelius is dead, Maximus.
We mortals are but shadows and dust.
Shadows and dust, Maximus!
Representing the training lyceum of Antonius Proximo,
Caesar is proud to give you...
Aelius Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus!
They embrace him like he's one of their own.
The mob is fickle, brother. He'll be forgotten in a month.
Maximus! Maximus!
No, much sooner than that.
It's been arranged.
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
We who are about to die salute you.
We're with you, Maximus!
Come on, finish it!
- No! - Pull! Pull!
Aah!
Yeah!
Loose! Loose! Loose! Loose!
Aah!
Get him! Kill him!
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
- Kill! Kill! - Kill! Kill!
- Kill! - Kill!
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
Maximus! Maximus the Merciful!
Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus!
Forward, guards! On battery!
Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus!
What am I going to do with you?
You simply won't...
die.
Are we so different, you and I?
You take life when you have to...
as I do.
I have only one more life to take. Then it is done.
Then take it now.
They tell meyourson...
squealed like a girl...
when they nailed him to the cross.
And your wife... moaned like a whore...
when they ravaged her...
again and again...
and again.
The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.
Highness.
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
General! General!
General!
- General! General! - Get back!
- General! - Cicero!
Maximus! Maximus!
General!
- General. - Where are you camped?
- Ostia. - Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
- We love you, Maximus! - Praise the victor!
Tell the men their general lives. Find me.
- Move along! - Find me!
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
Can they hear you?
Who?
Your family, in the afterlife.
- Oh, yes. - What do you say to them?
To my boy,
I tell him I will see him again soon.
To keep his heels down when he's riding his horse.
To mywife-
That is not your business.
And now they love Maximus for his mercy.
So I can't just kill him, or it makes me even more unmerciful!
The whole thing's like some crazed nightmare.
He is defying you.
His every victory is an act ofdefiance.
The mob sees this, and so do the senate.
Every day he lives, they grow bolder.
- Kill him. - No.
I will not make a martyr ofhim.
I have been told...
of a certain sea snake...
which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey.
It will lie at the bottom ofthe ocean as if wounded.
Then its enemies will approach,
and yet it will lie quite still.
And then its enemies will take little bites ofit,
and yet it remains...
still.
So,
we will lie still...
and let our enemies come to us and nibble.
Have every senator followed.
Maximus.
Cicero, my old friend.
I thought perhaps I'd seen you for the last time.
- I thought you were dead. - Close.
How long have the men been in Ostia?
- All winter. - And how do they look?
Fattened and bored.
Who's in command?
Some fool from Rome.
- How soon do you think they could be ready to fight? - For you, tomorrow.
I need you to do something for me.
Come see. Witness.
If you haven't been in the arena, you can see the show here.
Giant Maximus is defeating our Emperor Commodus. What are we to do?
He's defying everyone. What will we do?
Ah! Look at that!
Oh, he got him!
Give way! Give way!
Give way!
Three casks ofred wine.
My lady? I served your father at Vindobona.
- Back. - My lady.
I served your father at Vindobona.
- Back! - And I served the General Maximus.
I serve him still.
Stop.
- Stop. - Stop!
Stand back.
The General sends word. He will meet your politician.
- For your loyalty, soldier. - Thankyou, my lady.
Hup!
Leave us.
Senator Gracchus.
General.
I hope my coming here today is evidence enough that...
you can trust me.
- The senate is with you? - The senate?
Yes. I can speak for them.
You can buy my freedom and smuggle me out of Rome?
To what end?
Get me outside the citywalls.
Have fresh horses ready to take me to Ostia. My army's encamped there.
By nightfall ofthe second day, I shall return at the head of 5,000 men.
But the legions all have new commanders loyal to Commodus.
Let my men see me alive, and you shall see where their loyalties lie.
This is madness.
- No Roman army has entered the capital in a hundred years. - Gracchus-
I will not trade one dictatorship for another!
The time for half-measures and talk is over, Senator.
And after your glorious coup, what then?
You'll take your 5,000 warriors and leave?
I will leave.
The soldiers will stay for your protection, under the command of the senate.
So, once all of Rome is yours,
you'll just give it back to the people?
Tell me why.
Because that was the last wish of a dying man.
I will kill Commodus.
The fate of Rome I leave to you.
Marcus Aurelius trusted you.
His daughter trusts you.
I will trust you.
But we have little time.
Give me two days...
and I will buy your freedom.
And you-
You stay alive.
Or I'll be dead.
Now we must go.
It won't work.
The Emperor knows too much.
And as for me,
it's becoming dangerous.
You will be paid on my return.
I give you my word.
Your word? What if you don't return?
Doyou remember what it was to have trust, Proximo?
Trust?
Who am I to trust?
I will kill Commodus.
Why would I want that?
He makes me rich.
Oh, I-
I know that you are a man ofyour word, General.
I know that you would die for honor.
You would die for Rome.
You would die for the memory of your ancestors.
But I, on the other hand-
I'm an entertainer.
Hmm? Guard!
He killed the man who set you free.
Praetorians, master.
Halt!
Where have you been?
I sent for you.
Please, brother.
What's troubling you?
Does Gracchus have a new lover?
I don't know.
I thought you'd seen him.
He infects everyone like a putrid fever.
For the health of Rome, the senate must be bled.
Andhe will bleed, too.
Very soon.
But not tonight.
Do you remember what our father said once?
"It's a dream-
a frightful dream-
Life is. "
Do you think that's true?
I don't know.
I think it is.
And I have only you to share it with.
Open your mouth.
You know I love you.
And I love you.
Out. Get out!
Move!
Congratulations, General.
You've got very... persuasive friends.
My brother's had Gracchus arrested.
We daren't wait any longer. We must leave tonight.
Proximo will come at midnight and take you to the gate.
Your servant, Cicero, will be waiting there with horses.
You have done all this?
- Yes. - You risk too much.
I have much to pay for.
You have nothing to pay for.
You love your son. You're strong for him.
I am tired of being strong.
My brother hates all the world,
and you most of all.
- Because your father chose me. - No.
Because my father loved you.
And because I loved you.
A long time ago.
Was I very different then?
You laughed more.
I have felt alone all my life,
except with you.
I must go.
Yes.
There. There.
- There. There. There. There. There. There.
There. There. There. There.
And I've got you.
Isn't it late to be playing legionnaire?
I'm not a legionnaire.
- Not a legionnaire? - I'm a gladiator.
A gladiator? Gladiators only fight in the games.
Wouldn't you rather be...
a great Roman warrior like Julius Caesar?
I'm Maximus, the savior of Rome!
The savior of Rome?
And who said that?
Where's Lucius?
He's with the Emperor, my lady.
- She couldn't. - Yes, she did.
She took it from a basket and pressed it to her breast,
right here above her heart.
It bit her in the breast?
Yes.
You see, Lucius, sometimes royal ladies...
behave very strangely and do very odd things in the name of love.
I think it's silly.
So do I.
Sister, join us.
I've been reading to dear Lucius.
- I've been reading too. - Yes.
He's a very clever little boy.
He'll make a grand emperor one day.
We've been reading about the great Mark Antony and his adventures in Egypt.
The queen killed herself with a snake.
And just wait until you hear what happened to our ancestors.
Ifyou're very good,
tomorrow night I'll tell you the story of Emperor Claudius.
He was betrayed...
by those closest to him.
By his own blood.
They whispered in dark corners...
and went out late at night...
and conspired...
and conspired.
But the Emperor Claudius knew that they were up to something.
He knew they were busy little bees.
And one night he sat down with one of them...
and he lookeda t her...
and he said,
"Tell me what you've been doing,
busy little bee,
or I shall strike down those dearest to you.
You shall watch as I bathe in their blood. "
And the Emperor was heartbroken.
The little bee had wounded him more deeply...
than anyone else could ever have done.
And what do you think happened then, Lucius?
I don't know, Uncle.
The little bee told him everything.
Open, in the name of the Emperor!
Proximo!
Open the gates in the name of the Emperor!
Proximo!
Open the gates!
Open the gates, Proximo!
Do you want to die, old man?
Here.
Everything is prepared.
- It seems you've won your freedom. - Proximo,
are you in danger of becoming a good man?
Ha!
- Juba. - All enemies ofthe Emperor die!
Open the gates! The Emperor commands!
Pull!
Move! Two columns on the left!
I only need moments, so do not be careless with your lives.
If you don't want any part of this, go back to your cells.
We'll wait here foryou, Maximus.
- Strength and honor. - Go!
Strength and honor.
Aim!Break the bars!
Shadows and dust.
Aah!
Maximus!
I'm sorry.
No!
It's done.
And what of my nephew?
And what of his mother?
Should they share her lover's fate?
Or should I be merciful?
Commodus the Merciful.
Lucius will stay with me now.
And if his mother...
so much as looks at me...
in a manner that displeases me,
he will die.
If she decides...
to be noble...
and takes her own life,
he will die.
And as for you,
you will love me...
as I loved you.
You will provide me with an heir...
of pure blood...
so that Commodus and his progeny...
will rule for a thousand years.
Am I not merciful?
Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus!
Maximus!Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus! Maximus!
Maximus.
They call for you.
The general who became a slave.
The slave who became a gladiator.
The gladiator who defied an emperor.
A striking story.
Now the people want to know how the story ends.
Only a famous death will do.
And what could be more glorious...
than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?
You would fight me?
Why not? Do you think I'm afraid?
I think you have been afraid all your life.
Unlike Maximus the Invincible, who knows no fear?
I knew a man who once said, "Death smiles at us all.
All a man can do is smile back. "
I wonder.
Did your friend smile at his own death?
You must know.
He was your father.
You loved my father, I know.
But so did I.
That makes us brothers, doesn't it?
Smile for me now, brother.
Strap on his armor.
Conceal the wound.
Maximus! Maximus!
Ring formation!
Off with his head, Maximus!
Aah!
Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!
Quintus, sword!
Give me your sword!
Sword! Give me a sword!
Sheathe your swords!
Maximus.
- Maximus. - Quintus.
Free my men.
Senator Gracchus is to be reinstated.
There was a dream that was Rome.
It shall be realized.
These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.
Free the prisoners! Go!
Maximus!
Lucius is safe.
Go to them.
You're home.
Is Rome worth one good man's life?
We believed it once.
Make us believe it again.
He was a soldier of Rome.
Honor him.
Who will help me carry him?
Now we are free.
I will see you again.
But not yet.
Not yet.
Subs ripped by Windom Earle