My grandmother, Livia, could certainly be patient.
Nine years passed before Agrippa's services could be spared.
Then he died - poisoned by Livia.
Tiberius divorced his wife and married Julia.
Oh, yes, my grandmother always got her way in the end.
Wicked woman.
You're getting soft.
You wouldn't last a five-hour march in the army. Throw it!
Oh, come on! Throw it!
Antonia throws harder than that.
Shut up! Throw the ball
If you lost some of that stomach of yours...
Now we'll sea who's hard.
- Death or surrender? - Oh, get off.
Ha!
I never thought I'd sea you in such a condition.
Spend ten years in Rome and sea how you feel
Hay...
What's this, eh? Sulks?
You're lucky. You go back to the army tomorrow.
That's the only decent life for a Roman.
Marching, fighting, building forts.
Those were the best years of my life.
You made the army's life bloody hell
I drilled them hard, but I was fair. I'll boot they say I was fair.
- Do you know what they really say? - What?
They say that your drills were bloodless battles...
and your battles were bloody drills.
- Is that what they say? Really? - Yes.
You know, that army I took across the Alps, they were men.
- You've never had men like that. - We've won some victories too.
I know, I know. But those two legions...
The twelfth and the sixteenth?
You'll never sea their like again.
Nothing bothered them - the heat, the cold...
the marching.
Oh, I cursed them and I flogged them,
but I cursed and flogged their officers too.
If there weren't any tents for the men,
I slept out in the open with them.
You'll have to take the field again.
- He won't let me. - Who, Augustus?
He keeps me here as his work donkey.
Says he can't spare me. I'm his chief errand boy.
I spend my time investigating the level of unemployment.
Or reorganising the city fire brigade.
Added to that, there's that bitch Julia they made me marry.
Oh, he's just impossible. Sometimes he doesn't speak to me for days.
He was always very broody, according to Drusus, even as a child.
Drusus can always make him laugh.
Drusus only knows him as a brother. He ought to be married to him.
You know, Antonia, I'm very easygoing.
Do you want that toe to drop off? !
There's a stiffness in the joint.
There wasn't before you started to work on it.
They daydream. They’ll spend all day massaging a toe if you let them.
- She's probably in love. - I hope she has better luck than me.
- What was I talking about? - About Tiberius.
He never wanted to divorce Vipsania.
That stalk of a thing? I don't know what he saw in her.
She's as thin as a stick.
He used to spend half of every night in bed looking for her!
- Julia! - It's true.
If the sheets got a bit crumpled, she disappeared until morning.
He was lucky if they found her when they made the bed.
- She's not that thin! - I don't know what you call thin,
but I saw old Valerius after he starved himself to death
and he looks better than she looks!
I could never sea the attraction.
After ten years, I'd have thought he'd be glad to sea the back of her.
That's the trouble. He was always glad to sea the back of her.
- Julia, what on earth do you mean? - Well. he's very strange.
You're too sensitive a person for me to go into details.
Julia, he doesn't...?
Oh, I could put up with that.
I'm not like you. I could probably teach him a thing or two.
But it's the coldness.
I can't get near him. Even snow will melt on a warm day, but not him.
- I had no idea. - And he hates Gaius and Lucius.
- He hates my boys. They’re sweet. - Very sweet.
And to think I was once mad about him. What fools we women are.
Augustus should never have insisted on the marriage.
Don't blame my father. Blame Livia. If anyone insisted, she did.
She tried the same thing ten years ago, but Agrippa got in first.
- I didn't know that. - No. You were too young.
That's all right. I've had enough.
When Marcellus died, she had everything planned.
She knew how I felt about Tiberius and she wanted us to marry,
but Agrippa had the same idea,
and Augustus needed him more than he needed her son, so she had to wait.
And can she wait! Ye Gods, time means nothing to her!
- Poor Marcellus. - That must have been terrible.
To tell you the truth...
Leave us. I'll call you.
Off you go. Go.
To tell you the truth,
it's crossed my mind that Livia might have had a hand in that.
Julia!
I might be wrong, but he was a strong, healthy man,
and he never had a serious illness until she got her hands on him.
I often wonder about that woman.
Antonia, you're so innocent!
Hah! Not so innocent. Ask Drusus.
I might just do that one of these days if I get him in the mood!
He's very attractive.
Why is it that when I come in here with you, I cover myself up,
but normally I don't bother?
Well. you should. I don't approve of all this nakedness.
Oh, Antonia!
I shall miss you when you leave tomorrow.
Not so hard.
The dirt's ingrained in the skin.
- It goes deeper than that. - Your gloom is magnificent.
Not so hard or I'll get my men to do it.
I can't think why you won't let them anyway.
A man should keep himself clean, not have slaves do it.
How's he supposed to scrape his own back?
- He gets his brother to do it. - If he hasn't a brother?
- Gets his son. - If he hasn't a son?
- Gets his friend. - If he hasn't a friend?
Then he should go and hang himself.
I've tried it. It's better to have a slave scrape your back.
You know, I shall miss you.
- You don't have any dark thoughts. - Nonsense. We all have them.
Not like me. Not like me.
You're no worse than the rest of us.
I'll tell you something, Drusus.
Sometimes I so hate myself, I can't bear the thought of me anymore.
You don't know anything about darkness, do you?
Inside darkness. Blackness.
Stop bragging! I could match you black for black.
Not you. Not you.
The Claudian tree produces two kinds of apples - the sweet and the sour.
That was never more true than you and me.
And what of our mother, which is she?
- Livia? - Mmm.
They say a snake bit her once and died.
Hay, that's no longer funny.
I've only cared for three people in my life.
- One was our father. - The noblest of us all
Yes. The other was Vipsania.
Yes. I was sorry about that. Why did you divorce her?
Livia insisted on it. Julia wanted it. Augustus insisted on it.
All the same, you were so happy, you might have refused.
Do you think the monarchy will survive Augustus?
No, I don't. Rome will be a republic again, I promise you that.
Then perhaps I did it all for nothing.
Is that why you did it?
Is that really?
But there are Julia's sons. They’ll come before you anyway.
My poor brother.
- So ambitious. - Our mother makes me so.
Oh, God, I miss her so!
Vipsania.
What did they make me do?
Tiberius.
What's done is done.
Yes.
Yes, it's done.
I must forget her.
Vipsania was the second and she's gone.
You're the third.
Well. you know I feel the same way.
You should have my nature and I yours.
- Why? - I'm older. I should protect you.
Well. we'll protect each other.
I don't know what from.
There are many things you don't know.
- If anything happens to you... - What could happen?
You could be killed in battle.
- Or you could fall sick and die. - Yes.
And you could cut your throat shaving or choke on a plum stone.
Tiberius, none of us is guaranteed a time.
No.
You're my lifeline into the light.
Six again!
One, two, three, four, five, six
Now what will you do?
I'll put two legions in the port and stop the corn supply.
Not bad. Rome can't live without corn.
You've got your back to the sea and that's not good. It's your decision.
Lucius, your turn.
- Six! - These dice have nothing but sixes.
One, two, three, four, five, six Belgica, Belgic's mine.
Go on, throw again.
Two.
- One, two. I'll take Britain. - You've only got three legions.
- Julius did it. - He didn't stay long though.
Yes, what is it?
Caesar, your stepson Drusus Nero begs to take his leave.
- Yes, you can come with me. - Can't we finish the game?
Later. We have a duty and duty comes before pleasure.
Come and say goodbye to the man who commands all our armies in Germany.
Come on, come on. No sulks. That's not the Roman way.
- So you're leaving us? - Yes, Caesar.
And glad to go?
I go where I'm sent, Caesar, but, yes, I am glad to go.
When I was your age, I wanted to be with the army too.
I brought Gaius and Lucius to say goodbye.
We've been playing Empire. I've already lost Egypt and Syria.
- May I ask Drusus a question? - Go ahead.
How many legions could invade Britain?
Four. Yes. And a great deal of auxiliary cavalry as well
Not three? They’re very uncivilised.
It's not worth the risk.
On a fresh venture, you must hit hard and quickly.
Sending for reinforcements gives the enemy breathing space.
I'll do it one day.
I doubt it's worth it.
There's nothing of value there and the people make poor slaves.
Say goodbye and wait for me upstairs.
- Goodbye, then. - Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Read Julius' commentaries on his campaign in Britain.
- I've read it twice. - So have I. Goodbye.
Don't move the tokens while I'm gone. I know where they are.
They’re good boys. We'll have need of them one day.
Come and walk with me in the garden a moment.
- Is Antonia travelling with you? - Yes.
- That's all right in her condition? - Yes.
I didn't realise she was expecting again. Julia told me.
- It's a bit close to the others. - Well. what can you do?
True. Anyway, we need more children, especially among the nobility.
People aren't getting married early enough.
I must do something about that.
Have you said goodbye to Livia?
She's with the Parthian ambassador.
Oh, yes. She works so hard for me. Your mother is a very fine woman.
I'd have given up long ago if it weren't for her.
It's an immense burden to place on the shoulders of one man.
Yes, it is. It's really too much.
I sometimes have a longing to be just a private citizen again.
It's been 20 years now since Mark Antony died
and I took it all on my own. I blame him, you know.
What a fool that man was. The whole of the Eastern Empire was his.
If he'd been a proper husband to my sister, things would be different.
- Is it too late...? - Yes?
Is it too late to lay down the burdens of office?
- And let the Senate rule? - Yes.
You're just like your father. Always wanting the Republic.
He was my enemy too at one time.
I'll never be that.
No.
No, I didn't mean that. Be like him, you couldn't do better.
I did him wrong once, you know. Oh, yes, yes.
I took your mother from him
and that has weighed with me over the years.
Still. we're a family,
and we all work together for the greater good of Rome.
My brother...
Yes, yes, Tiberius.
He's a puzzle to me, like the Sphinx
He's like a large dog watching everything and saying nothing.
- He wants to leave Rome. - I know. But I need him here.
What would I do without him?
- Still. an unwilling horse... - Is more trouble than walking.
But we're not horses. We can't all do what we want.
And what does he want? He wants to sit on a rock all day -
Rhodes or Capri - and throw stones at the sea.
Why? I don't know. No. We can't have it.
Ah, here's your mother.
- You're off again? - Yes, Mother.
You read the dispatches? The Corusci are giving trouble again.
I'll give them trouble enough.
Shall we aver civilise the Germans?
- I doubt it. - You know how I feel
When we conquer a people, we must be temperate,
but when agreements are broken, punishments must be severe.
What do the Parthians want?
They want a Roman god to worship.
They want to dedicate a temple to you.
I won't have it.
We've abolished kings in Rome. Would you give us living gods?
They won't be in Rome. They’ll be in Syria.
What harm is a temple built in your name where primitive people...?
No, it makes me uneasy, Livia. I feel in my heart it's not right.
We may offend those gods that look after us and oversee our destiny.
- But... - No. You must tell them no.
I must get back to the boys and finish the game.
Look after Antonia. No accidents.
Who knows what great Roman she may be carrying.
The gods go with you.
I shall ask the boys to dine with us.
They can listen to the discussion with the ambassadors.
Leave him alone. Don't encourage him to step down from office.
Mother, do you really want us to drift into a hereditary monarchy?
Become corrupt like the Eastern potentates?
Rome will never be a republic again.
Well. we needn't quarrel about it.
Let me kiss you and say goodbye.
You know, you mustn't mind if you dislike me.
A mother can't love all her children.
You shouldn't have come here. It's wrong. It's wrong.
Don't send me away. Please, Vipsania.
Do you want to make trouble for me?
No. No.
Then go away. It's dangerous.
Open the shutter. Let me look at you again.
Please, please go away!
Is it true?
Yes. Yes, it's true.
- You're getting married again. - Yes.
I won't have it. I won't have it!
I'll kill you! You're mine! You're my wife!
I am not your wife. You divorced me.
Don't... Don't.
Please, you must leave me alone.
We mustn't sea each other again.
- Do you love him? - Do you love her?
No. No, I hate her.
- He's very kind to me. - But why must you marry again?
I must put an end to your following me! To your coming to sea me!
Your mother's spies are everywhere.
I don't care about that!
You're married to Augustus' daughter.
You can't treat her like no one.
Don't get married again, I beg you.
I couldn't bear it.
And spend the rest of my life alone?
You wouldn't be alone, I promise you.
Tiberius, it was not my doing. I didn't divorce you, you divorced me!
I didn't want to.
- They made me do it. - They couldn't have made me!
I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I didn't mean that.
It was hard for you, I know.
Harder for you than it would have been for me.
I shouldn't have done it. I should have killed myself first.
It's done now. There's no going back.
Let's die together.
Let's kill ourselves.
Let's go into our bathroom, open our veins,
and when they find us, our blood will be mingling in the water.
Oh, my baby, my baby. It's too late. It's too late.
I'm lost. I'm lost. I go from darkness into darkness.
You'll come through it and so will I.
How will I? I'm afraid of what I'll become without you.
- Why should you be afraid? - Because of your sweetness.
We had a delegation here six months ago from Palmyra.
And Augustus refused, I remember.
The thought of deification makes him uneasy.
It might make us all uneasy.
- We're not all worthy of it. - No, of course.
But his mind is made up?
Yes, but so is mine.
I cannot allow his natural modesty
to interfere with his political judgement.
If the Senate thought that his deification were politically useful.
he would not be displeased.
But he will exert no pressure nor be present at the debates.
Of course.
There will be some opposition.
- But I'll take the line... - I'll tell you what line to take.
You were sea! And in broad daylight!
Going in and coming out. I won't have it! It's not the first time!
I went to congratulate her.
Don't congratulate her! Leave her be! You didn't go for that reason!
You'll treat my daughter with respect! Do you hear me?!
I didn't ask for this marriage, you asked for it!
I won't have it made a mockery of!
He's been seeing his former wife, if you please!
- I think you exaggerate. - I exaggerate nothing!
He met her on the street. Yes, you did. I heard about it.
I hear everything. Nothing escapes me.
He didn't dare speak to her,
but he followed her like a moonstruck calf for everyone to sea!
You will not make a laughing stock of my family
or as quick as boiled asparagus, I'll have you out! Out!
You listen to me.
Mark Antony was twice the man you are,
but when he spat on my sister,
he learned a lesson he didn't live long enough to profit from.
Julia and I don't get on.
Damn you! You'll get on whether you like it or not!
And you'll leave that woman alone!
Let me go away. Let me leave Rome.
What am I to do with him?
Tell me. You're his mother, speak to him. It's Agrippa all over again.
He doesn't mean it. He doesn't want to go.
Didn't you hear what he said?!
He's unhappy. He didn't mean it.
It's not unnatural for a man to sea his former wife now and then.
I saw his father several times after you and I were married.
- That was different. - Not so different.
And you saw Julia's mother from time to time.
- Yes, but not in secret! - I don't remember being present.
Maybe not, but it was not in secret!
Well. how secret was this? I knew about it.
- You knew about it? - Of course. He told me.
You never said anything to me.
Have you so little to occupy your time
that I must tell you about everyone in the household?
You're always complaining that you have too much to think about.
Perhaps you'd care to sea the laundry lists in future?
All right. I was hasty.
But you understand I felt I had cause!
Tiberius, listen. I'm not blind.
I know that you and Julia aren't the most perfectly-matched couple,
but what can you do? These things happen.
We can't cut the knot every time we quarrel
Especially us. We have to set an example. Livia, you'll back me.
Of course. We have duties which far outweigh our private feelings.
Exactly.
Now, Tiberius, you play fair with me, eh? Don't sulk.
If it's a little thing on the side - I'm not encouraging - who's to know?
Forgetting that your mother's here - if that's aver possible!
Yes. Well. we can wink at it between men.
But Vipsania...
I don't like it, do you understand? It's not right.
You play fair with me and you'll sea I can be generous too.
Good.
If there's one thing I hate, it's a family row.
What does it cost to be kind? To be sympathetic and understanding.
Yes?
A messenger has arrived from Germany, Caesar.
Send him in.
A dispatch from Drusus Nero for his noble brother.
Tiberius, let's hear what he says.
"My dear Tiberius, a period of enforced rest due to a slight head wound
"has given me much time to reflect on the state of our beloved Rome."
- He's wounded. Not seriously? - He says slight.
"Such was the extent of the corruption that I found in..."
Go on.
The handwriting is...
Surely you can read more than that?
Yes. Well. he goes on to say err...
Well?
Honestly, sir, it's not worth reading.
I think my brother was perhaps not himself when he wrote it.
"..The corruption and petty place seeking that I found in Rome.
"I have come to the conclusion that it is the consequence
"of the continued exercise of supreme power by Augustus.
"Could we not persuade him, even compel him to retire?
"I firmly believe he is ready to do this,
"but for the stubbornness of our mother Livia,
"who derives such satisfaction
"from the exercise of supreme power through him..."
There's more. Do you want to read it?
The letter's clearly treasonable.
No, no. He feels strongly about it. I understand that.
He's wrong, but I understand it.
Then again, perhaps he's right.
Perhaps I should retire. I've said so often enough.
Will you allow him to insult me?
He's your son, not mine!
His wound might have affected him. He speaks of giddiness at the end.
Yes.
Yes. That's it.
He's a little bit deranged.
Those German forests can affect a man.
I'll call him back for a rest. It'll be good to sea him again.
Yes, you're right. We should have him back.
I'll send a doctor with the letter.
- He's got a doctor. - Army doctors! What do they know?
I'll send my own. He'll know how to take care of him.
Easy.
That's right. Fetch the doctor.
- Which one? - Ours, of course, and hurry.
Lift him onto the table and be careful or I'll make eunuchs of you!
You blockheads! Right. Get this away.
I'll have the lot of you crucified.
It's all right. It's all right.
All right. Clear out.
It feels terrible.
It's a mess. We'll get it cleaned.
Hurry up with that water!
What happened?
My horse fell on me. I couldn't get out.
It crushed my leg on a rock, then tore it to shreds getting up.
- The doctor's coming. - What did they mean - "Which one"?
One arrived from Rome. He's your mother's personal physician.
That was kind of her. He'll have more to look at. Where is he?
We found him a room. He doesn't look too happy.
He's already missing the comforts of home.
This will probably hurt.
He brought a letter with him from Caesar.
- Where is it? - I'll give it to you after.
Give it to me now!
Rufus?
- What happened? - A horse fell and crushed his leg.
- Oh... - No, no, I'm all right.
I've been invited, politely, back to Rome.
- Why? - I'm not sure, but I can guess.
Oh! Get out of here!
You'll not be moving far on that leg, if I'm any judge of wounds.
I don't understand it.
A simple fall
- How could it happen? - They can be bad sometimes.
- To bring him to death's door. - It's an excuse for not returning.
Why do you say that?
I've heard such reasons before. Don't raise your voice to me.
- What reason could he have? - Who knows?
We know he has the whole of the western armies at his back.
He'll come when it suits him.
I must go to my brother.
He's 500 miles away. He could be dead even now.
All the same, I must go to him.
I'll make a sacrifice and offer prayers.
Perhaps he won't be taken from us.
Take him our love.
Well. go, go quickly!
The Senate today voted to make me a god in Palmyra.
They’ll put a little statue to me in the temple
and people will bring offerings asking me to bring rain
or cure their father's gout.
Tell me, Livia, if I'm a god - even in Palmyra...
how do I cure gout?
What is it, my love? What do you want?
Fetch the children.
Yes. Yes, of course.
I'll bring them.
He wants me to fetch the children.
- Is he...? - No. But it's near.
- What is it? - Gangrene.
It crept slowly up. Nothing seemed to stop it.
Where's the staff surgeon?
He wasn't allowed near him. He took the case out of his hands.
Musar.
It was just a simple fall
What happened to your skill?
I...I came too late.
His condition was too far gone. I came too late.
Drusus?
Drusus, look at me.
Drusus, it's I, Tiberius.
You and your damned plum stones.
She read the letter.
I couldn't stop her.
She was there when I got it.
I couldn't think it would have anything in it.
Rome has a severe mother.
And Gaius and Lucius...
a cruel stepmother.
Drusus...?
Drusus!
No.
(BABY CRIES)
You didn't wait.
Look. I brought you little Claudius.
And you didn't wait.
Shouldn't have died and that's a fact
Somebody blundered, and that's a fact
(KNOCKING)
Come.
Your meal is ready, Caesar.
Will you have it now or shall I take it away?
Very good. I think the cook's on form today, for a change.
Try that.
There.
The garlic's overdone for my taste.
You're always complaining about the g-garlic.
Go on.
A good swallow now.
Yes, I know this one. It's from the north. About five years old.
They had a bad summer. The grapes had less sugar in them.
Oh, stop showing off. Well. fill it up, then you can go.
I'm very busy.
- Another history, Caesar? - Yes.
- Of the Etruscans again? - No, of my family.
Did you aver read my history of the Etruscans?
No. I got it down from the library once, but I couldn't get into it.
Very well written, of course. Very well
Is something the matter, Caesar?
The fact is, when you know that someone's trying to poison you,
nothing tastes right, absolutely nothing.
Come now, who would want to poison you, Caesar?
Don't butter me up! You know who'd want to poison me.
My wife, that's who, and that slimy son of hers.
For all I know, you're in league with them.
In my opinion, the only person likely to poison us is the cook.
I wish you'd let me get rid of him.
He's a Greek and the only thing he does is stuff vine leaves.
Will you take it away? I'm not hungry.
May I ask how the current work is coming?
Well enough.
May I ask how far you've got?
The death of my father.
Ah, the noble Drusus.
A tragedy that one should lose one's father so young.
- Yes! - Yes.
A tragedy for us all
Yes, and for Rome.
And especially for my uncle.
He was never the same again.
(MELANCHOLY PIPE PLAYS)
Well. sons of Agrippa...
The daylight's fled and stars are out.
It's time for decent people to lock their doors and go to sleep.
Come.
Come on. You can sea me to my bed...
and then go to your own.
Yes, we've eaten well and drunk well
Too well perhaps.
Poor Julia. She can't take the wine as she used to.
And even dear Antonia nods a little.
What...?
What were you thinking tonight, my dear?
Ah, of poor Drusus.
Yes, yes, I was thinking of him tonight too.
Rome cannot afford such a loss.
I pray to the Gods that these boys will be as noble and virtuous as he was.
You mustn't dwell on it. A year has gone by.
That's quite long enough for grief.
More is not the Roman way, you know.
Musicians, play us out.
Let us have music to take us to our sleep.
A year?
Is that all it is?
One little year?
Goodnight, Lady.
(JULIA SNORES)
Pretty sight, isn't she?
I must get away from her. I must leave Rome.
You'll stay.
You'll have patience, as I have.
Where has your patience got you?
You've lost him, Mother.
You've lost him to those two boys.
If you leave Rome, I'll wash my hands of you once and for all
and shed not a single tear.
That's not surprising. I saw you shed none for my brother.
Have they all gone?
Oh, Tiberius, I was having such a beautiful dream.
Tiberius...
Sleep with me tonight. I'll be so loving to you.
Be nice to me.
Oh, just tonight.
Let me go, you fat drunken cow!
Fat? !
I'm fat where a woman should be fat, not skinny like a boy!
Go to bed, my dear, and I'll send you one up.
He's very pretty, I promise you. I've had him myself.
He reminds me of your ex-wife.
Not a hair on his body and his even skinnier behind!
There'll be no divorce. None!
I don't care what he is. You married him.
Look what your son did to my daughter.
What kind of a man is that? I've never liked him, never.
He's your son, but I've never liked him.
- I want a divorce! - No divorce!
You've been married three times already!
That's not my fault! I was widowed twice!
How can a woman get herself widowed twice?
- That's not fair! - It shows damn poor judgment!
I never asked to marry Agrippa!
Well. you asked to marry this one!
That husband of yours can clear out of Rome.
Tell him to go. I don't even want to sea him.
I don't want his name mentioned in this house!
How am I supposed to live, neither married nor divorced?
You'll live as befits a Roman matron.
And heaven help you if you don't!
Oh, I don't know.
Why can't they get on? What do they want from life?
I'm supposed to rule an empire and I can't rule my own family.
Thank God for these boys. You'll help me, won't you?
What would we do without Agrippa's sons, Livia? They’re our one hope.
In three or four years, they’ll be able to take some of this burden.
They’re promising, all right. Aren't you, my beauties?
Very promising.
Still. you've a long way to go, haven't you?
A long, long way.
We must take good care of them, Augustus.
And we shall. I promise you.
The very best of care.
Ah, that's how it should be.
Stay like that a moment. What a picture you make.
It expresses the true spirit of the Roman family.