LA MÃ ĐẾ QUỐC TÀN VONG - Biên dịch : Duy Kiền -
Hai vấn đề trọng yếu của lịch sử...
... là khởi nguyên La Mã đế quốc,
và căn nguyên tàn vong của nó.
Chúng ta đang tiếp cận để hiểu thực hư vấn đề.
Hãy nhớ rằng, sự tàn vong La Mã cũng như khi nó hưng khởi,
gồm không chỉ một mà nhiều nguyên nhân.
Đây không phải sự kiện,
mà tiến trình trải 300 năm.
Có những quốc gia nhẽ ra không tồn tại...
... nếu La Mã không diệt vong.
Năm 180 SCN,
hoàng đế Marcus Aurelius bận đốc suất quân đoàn La Mã...
... phòng ngừa man tộc dọc biên thùy Danuvius.
Thưa sa hoàng, điềm dữ lắm !
Thần không rõ duyên do.
Timonides này, thuở nhỏ,
dư cứ ám ảnh rằng,
khi đêm buông thì không trở sáng nữa.
Rằng chúng ta cứ đắm hoài trong bóng tối.
Một mặc cảm nho nhỏ.
Tâu bệ hạ, vầng dương tắt rồi cũng mọc thôi.
Ông nói đấy.
It is said more people die at this moment...
...when night is about to give way to day than at any other time.
It seems to me night whispers: "Come away with me...
to the west, and sleep forever."
What has another day to offer you?
What has another day to offer you, Timonides?
Warmth...
...life...
...color...
...people.
My lord, Caesar,
the sun.
As you predicted.
I congratulate you, Timonides.
- Timonides. - Livius.
- How is Caesar?
Well, in order to answer that question,
one must consider three aspects of the situation.
One, our emperor has been at the wars for 17 years...
...and lived under very difficult conditions.
Two, no one could ever describe Marcus Aurelius as a robust man.
There's a joke among the soldiers here about Timonides.
They say: Ask Timonides what day it is,
and he will lecture you on the history of the calendar.
You are well my lord, Caesar.
It seems that every governor, every king...
...in the whole empire is waiting in the valley below.
I invited them here for a particular purpose.
I've also asked my son, Commodus.
Your great friend, Commodus.
Tell me of your last campaign in these barbarian forests.
Two or three times, we thought we had Balimar, their leader,
but each time he was able to get away.
A few days longer, Caesar,
we'll bring you his head.
No, Livius. please don't bring me his head.
I wouldn't know what to do with it.
Bring him to me alive.
But he is the heart of the barbarians.
Then bring me the heart of the barbarians.
I wish to speak with him.
Speak with him?
Rome has existed for a thousand years,
it is time we find peaceful ways to live with those...
...you call barbarians.
So bring me this Balimar alive, and quickly.
There was a rumour that Lucilla was here.
Lucilla, Caesar's daughter.
Ah yes, Caesar's daughter.
As the dove fears the eagle,
as the lamb fears the wolf,
so is my heart heavy with fear.
O mother Vesta, eternal mother of Rome...
...help me.
Bring back the health of my father.
Protect us from the danger which hangs...
...over the empire.
Let there be peace...
...over all Rome.
Lucilla.
Livius.
Lucilla...
...you are beautiful.
"You are beautiful."
What does that mean?
It has been so long...
...I had forgotten.
Why didn't you ever try to see me when you were in Rome?
It seemed you did not really want to see anyone.
I thought by living alone away from the world,
I could find peace.
Then I found there is no real peace in being alone.
There is only loneliness.
I too have been lonely, Lucilla.
I'm here now, Livius.
And if my father's health improves,
and if your duties as a soldier do not prevent it,
we may see each other,
if you want to.
I want to.
Mithridates, king of Petra.
Welcome, Mithridates. Welcome Petra.
Costobacus, king of the Omnia.
Greetings, Costobacus, king of the Omnia.
Serverus, proconsul of Judea.
Africa.
- Welcome... - Virgilianus, proconsul of Syria.
Marcellus, governor of Egypt, I think.
...Marcellus, friend of Caesar.
And who would this be, Timonides?
Virgilianus, proconsul of Syria.
My greatful thanks, Timonides.
Virgilianus, friend of Caesar.
Welcome...
Pericles, proconsul of Athens.
...Pericles of Athens.
Rome is honored, Sohamus,
that Armenia's king is with us.
My lord, Caesar,
Armenia hopes only for even closer ties to Rome.
Pertinax, Britannia.
Welcome, Pertinax. Welcome, Britannia.
Hail Caesar!
Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!
Governors, consuls,
princes.
You have come from the deserts of Egypt,
from the mountains of Armenia,
from the forests of Gaul,
and the prairies of Spain.
You do not resemble each other,
nor do you wear the same clothes,
nor sing the same songs,
nor worship the same gods.
Yet, like a mighty tree...
...with green leaves and black roots,
you are the unity which is Rome.
Look about you and look at yourselves,
and see the greatness of Rome.
Two hundred years ago the Gauls were our fiercest enemies.
Now we greet them as friends.
In the whole world,
only two small frontiers are still hostile to us.
One here in the north which separates us...
...from those who are called barbarians,
the other in the east, Persia.
Only on these two borders will you find...
...walls, palisades,
forts, and hatred.
But these are not the frontiers Rome wants.
Rome wants and needs human frontiers.
We've had to fight long wars.
Your burdens have been great.
But we come now to the end of the road.
Here, within our reach, golden centuries of peace.
A true Pax Romana.
Wherever you live,
whatever the color of your skin,
when peace is achieved,
it will bring to all,
All!
the supreme rights of Roman citizenship.
My lord, Caesar. Are you ill?
A small pain in my side. It will pass.
No longer provinces, or colonies...
...but Rome.
Rome everywhere.
A family of equal nations.
That is what lies ahead.
May gods hasten the day.
Lucilla,
each time I see you I wonder how it is possible,
I've fathered something so beautiful.
You make it hard for me to take leave of this life.
Father,
you have a long life ahead of you.
Death is in the order of things.
Didn't they teach you that at school?
I will not let you leave me.
Is there a choice?
Soon this trickle of blood,
these few bones,
this net woven of nerves and arteries will be dust.
No choice.
Now that I'm here,
I will see that you take better care of yourself.
Even so,
time is short.
And there is a decision which I can no longer delay.
I must sacrifice the love of my son.
Commodus must never be my heir.
Livius,
it is my wish that you should succeed me.
And I intend to present you to the leaders of the empire,
openly, as my successor.
But,
you said yourself, Caesar. It needs someone who will change,
who will find new ways.
A man of the tenth century of Rome.
I know only the ways of war.
I would not know how to make allies out of the barbarians.
You will find new ways.
You have the heart for it, Livius.
But Commodus already shares the throne with you.
I had hoped that position and responsibility would make him grow up.
But he is interested only in games and gladiators.
But it was you, Caesar, who brought me into your family.
Commodus and I are like brothers.
I love Commodus, too.
But that's just a feeling.
Just a personal feeling.
My lord, Caesar, prince Commodus sends you his greetings.
He is in the snow country,
two days' journey from here.
Perhaps, I should meet Commodus, my lord, Caesar.
Yes, Livius. Go to meet him.
And think about what I said but remember my time is short.
Even though Commodus is my brother,
I would have done as you did, father.
And would you also have chosen Livius?
Yes!
Yes.
Only...
...why did he hesitate?
If he'd not been the kind of man who hesitates when faced...
...with such a great responsibility I would not have chosen him.
Come and sit by me.
Let me look at you.
Are you happy?
You seem reasonably happy, and yet...
And yet, father?
A disturbing whisper reached me...
...that you thought once of retiring to the temple of Vesta.
I know it is too simple to think of life...
...as either beautiful or ugly.
But there was a time...
...when life seemed very ugly to me.
It was because of your mother.
I was ashamed.
And she brought you such pain.
I knew moments of happiness with her,
and beauty.
But she looked for love elsewhere,
since she could not love me.
You, the best, the greatest of men.
Is that the way it must be, father?
Only moments of beauty...
...and then, betrayal?
We must try to understand other people more.
Understand cruelty and weakness?
Even that.
You have such a gift for life, Lucilla.
But I think you ask too much of it.
Learn to pity.
Learn to have compassion.
For yourself, too.
Pity and compassion for yourself.
The future will make great demands on you.
Oh, father.
Livius!
Commodus! Commodus!
Livius!
Gaius Livius! Warrior! Voyager!
Commodus! Commodus!
Most Roman of them all!
- I've missed you! - Are you well?
I'm never unwell!
- I have much to tell you! - And I you!
We've all come up from Rome!
Virgilianus! Niger! Claudius!
Father.
I've seen too little of you.
- That was not my wish. - Nor mine.
But these wars have been endless.
Endless because...
...you were too gentle.
I would have fought these wars differently.
There's a lot we do differently, Commodus.
I wish you could have come to Rome more often.
There's a new generation there, there's a whole new feeling.
You mean I'm getting old, senile perhaps?
Rome has changed since you were there.
Rome has changed.
It's now crawling with gladiators.
Sister,
I thought you'd retired as a Vestal virgin.
And abandon Rome to you, and your athletes?
Female philosopher!
As I remembered, you two began to quarrel...
...as soon as you could walk. I expect you're tired.
- And thirsty. - We'll talk together soon.
Come, let's find some wine...
The tribunes, Polybius and Victorinus.
We have fought four campaigns together.
Ferilus, the greatest gladiator of all Rome,
survivor of a hundred combats.
We've come to fight your battles.
- Gladiators to fight as soldiers? - Why not?
We'll teach your legionaires how to kill.
Let's have some wine.
Marcus Aurelius, our Caesar...
does not look well.
Dying men never do.
But you knew Caesar was dying. What else could have pulled you...
...and your kind away from the city of Rome.
You know, Livius...
...it's when I'm with you, that I feel... good...
...safe.
Don't ever change.
Caesar was just telling me I should change.
Oh, father thinks too much.
There is much for a Roman to think of these days.
Why, Livius,
for a moment that honest warrior's face of yours...
...took on the philosopher's look.
Let's not think, let's drink.
- As in the old days? - As in the old days.
Did you study logic?
Do you know what a dilemma is?
A dilemma...
...is...
...when there are only two possibilities...
...and both of them are impossible.
That is a dilemma.
Now drink with me. Now drink with me.
Drink with me.
I'm Caesar's son, I could have you burned alive!
Why, Livius...
...my friend...
...my brother...
...something is troubling you, isn't it?
Your father...
...has asked me...
...to be his heir.
My own father.
But I'm his son.
He must hate me very much.
He does not hate you.
I did not ask for this, Commodus.
Nor did you refuse.
- Ask me to refuse! - Ask you?
If you listen carefully...
...you will hear the gods...
You will hear the gods laughing.
I do not hear them laughing.
You will do what the gods decide!
She is for you.
She thinks.
Livius.
Lucilla?
Lucilla!
Have you finished with Commodus and wine?
My world has suddenly become strange.
I'm not sure where I am.
I'm sure of only one thing:
I love you, Lucilla.
If you are so sure,
why did it take you so long?
I think I must have known all these years.
I must have been certain that one day this would happen.
Known, yet not known.
Known and not known?
How can that be?
I'm not sure how it was,
but I know now.
You were always with me...
...everywhere.
I took you into battle with me.
You were with me in the gold fields.
But you know this.
Only this.
I know this.
You were with me, too. Always!
There were times when I wanted to run away from life,
I did not because I told myself that...
...one day...
...you will be with me.
I want to be with you for the rest of my life.
For I love you.
Do you, Livius?
Bring him back to me safely.
Bring him back to me quickly.
Make him love me forever.
Get these men back behind the lines.
We're setting a trap for Balimar.
I will lead the attack.
The men we send first into battle will be used as bait.
Many will die!
It will be especially dangerous for their leader.
We will be the first into this battle. We will be your bait.
And if I die, then the gods were not with me.
Then Livius, my friend...
...my brother...
...will it not relieve you of a great burden?
At the command you will lead your men forward.
You will move deeper and deeper into that forest,
until the barbarians are convinced that is safe to attack.
You will stand and hold until we move in and close the trap.
We will stand and hold.
Balimar!
Balimar has escaped,
because some of your gladiators were cowards.
Father...
It's been decided, Lucilla.
Armenia and Rome will become even closer.
A part of Rome,
a lovely part,
will become Armenia.
Lucilla,
I want you to take care of these.
I wrote them while campaigning in these forests.
I will watch over them, father.
I have tried to convince myself,
that my fears for the empire are unreasonable.
But my fears are reasonable.
The east, Lucilla, is where our danger lies.
We must make an alliance that will show the whole world...
...what value Rome places on her eastern frontier.
An alliance with Armenia.
And so...
...Caesar must give his daughter in marriage...
...to the king of Armenia.
I had hoped the gods would be kind.
I had hope you would not have to make a marriage without love.
Father...
...you know better than anyone...
...what a marriage without love can mean.
Yes.
Yes, I do.
I know you love me.
Therefore...
Therefore, if you ask me,
it can only mean you must have tried with all your strength...
...to find another way.
Yes I have.
And you could not?
No...
...I could not.
Therefore, it must be time.
Thus does Rome punish cowards!
Stop this!
Stop this! Stop this!
You call us cowards?
Let 20 of your men fight 20 of ours...
...if they dare, and then see who are cowards.
Move out of the way!
- No one touches Verilus! - I am commander of the northern army!
Continue the punishment!
I will not permit this!
Withdraw, Commodus!
- I cannot. - Nor can I.
Then let the gods decide.
Yes, the omens have been bad.
Bad for whom?
For us? for Rome?
At least here we can speak clearly.
What would you like, Julianas?
That the gods send us written messages...
...advising us on each small move we make?
Is the murder of an emperor a small move?
Murder?
The Caesar is dying and knows it.
At any moment, he will disinherit Commodus and proclaim Livius his heir.
Once he does that, publicly, what hope is there for us?
To kill Caesar!
Does Commodus know?
Commodus does not know.
He must never know.
Caesar is guarded.
There are so many close to him.
- How can it be done? - Quite easily.
We all of us know that Caesar loves fruit.
Apples.
Now, this blade carries a deadly poison,
on the side with the carved snake.
Cut fruit with it, an apple.
Offer the poisoned half to Caesar.
Eat the other half for yourself and then...
...long live the emperor, Commodus.
It could be done before hundreds of witnesses.
No one could be suspected.
From whom will Caesar accept fruit?
Who is close enough to him?
- I am. - You?
You are blind.
I have only to feel the blade to know which side.
And who better than a blind man?
Are you a man to enjoy an irony, Marcus Aurelius?
Look well then at the emperor of all Rome...
...become no better than a slave.
And who or what is your master?
Slave!
A small point in your side.
Perhaps no larger than a grain of wheat.
Of what use is your wisdom now?
No answer?
Think of all you have read and pondered over the years.
And the talk, Marcus Aurelius.
The hours of talk with your friend, Timonides.
Surely it must have prepared you for this moment.
But it has failed you, hasn't it?
You are not prepared.
Why?
In all that talk did this topic, death...
...slip your minds? Or did you know deep down...
...that your wisdom would be helpless before this mystery...
...of mysteries.
But once you admit that,
all other knowledge and skill becomes trivial and meaningless.
But then you would not have thought and read...
...and talked and wondered.
So, perhaps it's just as well.
For if men do not think, read,
talk to each other...
Above all else, talk,
they are no longer men.
He has come for me.
The silent boatman to ferry me across...
...the shadowed river.
I am not ready for you.
I've always been willing to bargain with my enemies.
Can we not make a treaty?
For your part I ask you to wait two years.
One year.
I cannot do it in less than a year.
I do not seek pleasures, or friendship, or love.
I speak only of Rome.
And when I say Rome, I mean the world.
The future.
For my part, I am prepared to live on in pain.
A year. What is a year to you?
Coarse, vulgar, stupid thing.
Yet it was I who said...
Is it not in the nature of...
...the fig tree to give figs, as for the honey bee to give honey,
and for the lion who fall upon the lamb?
So it is in the way of things that you should come for me.
Forgive me, Boatman,
I did not realize you were blind and deaf.
Come for me when you will.
My hand shall lead us.
But I tell you this:
There is a great truth we have not yet divined.
Oh, it is you Cleander.
Is there something I can do, my lord Caesar?
I'm in pain.
The Greeks say there is nothing better than fruit to soften pain.
Share this with me.
I have been pledged to king Sohamus.
- But you are mine! - My father gave his word.
- Come away with me. - Where could we go?
Anywhere where we could be alone.
But there is no such a place.
I'm Caesar's daughter.
You're a woman.
That is a much higher rank.
I couldn't live that way.
Nor could you.
I could.
If I had to choose between being Caesar's heir or your love,
I choose your love.
I cannot.
How can you do anything else?
Only this is real.
All else is half life.
Dream. Only this.
How can you ask me to forget everything I am?
All that my life means?
How can your life mean anything without love?
I will not let this happen.
Father,
why did you...
...deny me?
Caesar is dying!
Father.
Livius.
You are looking for a document, Timonides.
A document in which my father named his heir.
There is no such document.
There must be.
His last word was "Livius."
I will bare witness...
...that it was Caesar's wish,
that you'd be his heir.
If it was only your word, Lucilla, there would be doubt.
Caesar must be undoubted Caesar.
Is it not possible, Lucilla, that there are other ways...
...of becoming the real heir of Marcus Aurelius?
Hail, undoubted Caesar!
Hail Commodus!
Hail Caesar!
Hail Commodus!
Hail Caesar! Hail Commodus!
I will never forget what you have done today.
Let this be heard over the four corners of the empire,
that I Commodus,
now Caesar,
do proclaim Gaius Martellus Livius...
...Commander-in-chief of all Roman armies,
proconsul of the Roman Empire,
second only to Caesar himself!
Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!
Remember, thou art mortal.
Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!
In these buildings you store all the law,
and all the writings of the great men of Rome.
I am leaving with...
...my husband,
and soon I'll be far from this city.
Now I ask,
that you guard these,
the meditations of my father, Marcus Aurelius.
Whatever else happens...
...in the days to come,
let not these be destroyed.
For this is Rome.
When...
...my father was dying,
I spoke to the gods,
saying...
...I am not like my father.
and if I am to be crowned Caesar,
I would change all he did.
I offered them my life,
and told them that if it is not for the good of Rome...
...that I be Caesar,
then let me be killed.
But you see...
...I'm alive,
and Caesar.
Now...
....I wish to see Rome once more... the city of light.
Gaiety of beauty and strength.
We will have games.
The people of the city will be fed.
You and your eastern provinces will send us twice...
...the grain they have been sending. The taxes on them will be doubled.
My lord, Caesar...
...this cannot be done.
We have famine.
Not only in our provinces of Syria and Egypt,
but also in Armenia, Cappadocia, Arabia.
In the whole eastern half of the Roman Empire...
- ...people are dying of hunger. - When the word spread...
...that you had sent for us,
there was joy and hope. Our people said,
"Rome cannot let us die."
Our young Caesar will send us help.
If we carry out these orders,
we risk having the entire East rise up against Rome.
You will tell your provinces,
Egypt, Syria,
the entire eastern half of the empire...
that if there is the least resistance to my orders,
I will destroy them.
You will also let them know, they must forget...
...the weakness of my father.
The tribune Polybius and his legion, death marched, ambushed.
Barbarians. Human sacrifice. Romans.
Attack!
Balimar!
Lay down your weapons and swords.
We have fought each other long enough!
You will never drag me...
...and my people through the streets of Rome as slaves!
Balimar!
You or your people will never be slaves!
This I pledge you on my honor!
Caesar will never accept this!
They are prisoners of war!
They must be sold as slaves!
Let us die killing Romans!
Put them in chain! Put them in chain!
Until we can talk to them as men.
We are asking only that you give us your word,
and your chains will be removed.
You don't seem to understand.
Gaius Martellus Livius wishes to remove your chains.
He wishes to make free men,
free women of you.
Wishes to make you Romans.
Is it that you doubt the word of Livius?
Tell me, I want to help you.
This is Wotan,
our god of war.
If your gods are stronger than ours, they will give you strength.
If they are not, you will reach out and touch Wotan.
You are surrounded by Roman soldiers.
At my first scream they will fall upon you and kill you all.
We have lost the battle,
Wotan says we must die.
Let us look upon this logically.
You wish to know if our god is stronger than your god.
One, what will you know if I touch your god?
Only that I am weak.
Two...
We wish to help you,
to free you.
If I scream you will all die.
Although I've been a slave, I'm not accustomed to pain.
All I am, a philosopher, I am weak.
They're not worthy of it.
Barbarians!
Monsters! Animals!
Then touch Wotan and we willl know your gods are weak.
I cannot...
Cannot bear this.
It's beyond all human endurance.
I cannot.
Oh, Livius.
Oh, what a world...
...when its future rests in such as these.
I have no intention of turning...
My faith was not strong enough!
You did not even scream.
There's no reason to take our god.
That's no reason to change your ways.
Don't you want us, Roman?
You miserable, uneducated, half-men.
You are not at all what we fought for.
And yet...
...yes, we want you.
We want you.
Sister!
If he'd not been Caesar, he'd been the greatest gladiator in Rome.
Yes! You do belong in the arena.
You mean to say you came all this way to sharpen your wits.
Everything you do has a purpose.
I came to tell you what your friends dare not.
You are pushing our eastern provinces to rebellion.
Oh, I see.
You've come to scold me.
May I remind my sister,
that her younger brother can no longer be ordered about and ridiculed.
You seem to forget that I'm Caesar.
I do as I wish.
Do you? Do you?
You've had only one idea:
to smash and destroy everything father did.
You've always resented me, Lucilla.
Why?
What have I ever done to you?
It's what you are doing now!
You're lying.
Don't you suppose I know it was you who poisoned father against me?
I did not have to.
Father knew about the cruel things you did.
How is it he never knew all the cruel things you did?
Especially to our own mother.
I was in the room when she died.
When our mother died.
Remember!
I heard her beg you:
"Lucilla...
Why do you hate me so?
If I've done anything to hurt you, forgive me."
And you let her die without a word. Wasn't that cruelty?
There was a reason.
Reason? What was it? Tell me?
- Nothing. Nothing. - Tell me.
Tell me!
Caesar!
You are unarmed.
Even a woman with a dagger can be dangerous.
She has no dagger.
She is my... sister.
Leave us.
So, you came to warn me.
No other reason?
Didn't you know Livius was on his way back to Rome?
I did not know.
Do you know why he is coming?
Stay here with me, Lucilla.
We'll find other ways to ensure the loyalty...
...of Armenia.
Gaius Martellus Livius.
I heard a whisper that Lucilla is here in Rome.
Have you not also heard them saying that anything is possible now...
...that Commodus has become Caesar?
I've been hearing these wild rumors...
...that you've come with your head full of ideas...
...for a new Rome.
The Rome of my father.
And that you intend to come before the Senate...
...with these ideas?
These wild schemes of yours?
What would you do if I were to say...
...Livius, I don't want you to do this.
Just that, nothing more.
I would still do what I believe must be done.
Abandon this plan, Livius,
and I will see to it that you and Lucilla can always be together.
Oh, Livius.
Oh, what will I do?
I'm not as strong as I thought I was.
I have not learned to live without you.
There is no life for either of us apart, Lucilla.
I told you this before but you would not listen.
I thought you had betrayed my father.
But now I know.
You've found your own way of making the world he wanted.
And yet if I try to make that world,
Commodus will keep us apart.
Oh, make that world, Livius,
and then let's see,
what will keep us apart.
Hail Livius, conqueror of the Germans.
Hail Livius Germanicus!
Honorable fathers,
and Senators of Rome!
Have you heard what is being proposed?
Gaius Martellus Livius,
has asked that we, the Roman Senate...
...should give...
...these barbarians,
these savages...
...Roman citizenship and settle them on Roman lands.
To treat these wondering murderers...
...as brothers,
equals.
And what of our other provinces?
What of Gaul? So loyal to us.
What of Syria,
and Egypt which sends us our grain?
If we make Romans of these barbarians,
can we withhold Roman citizenship from them?
No! No!
Then what becomes of the precious prize...
...Roman citizenship once was?
It becomes a cheap, common thing...
...tol be given away like bread.
I say no!
We are Romans! Warriors!
Let us rid our minds of this poisonous idea.
Crucify their leaders.
Sell the rest as slaves.
Teach them once and for all what it is to make war on Rome.
That...
...is the Roman way.
Honorable fathers of Rome!
You have greeted me as a soldier,
who came in small triumph from the wars.
And I thank you for it.
But you will have a hard decision to make here today!
And it must not be that I as a soldier...
...swayed your vote.
I ask, therefore, of Caesar,
that a man who is neither soldier nor senator,
but a philosopher,
a man of reason,
be permitted to speak for me.
Fellow Romans!
Greek! Greek!
Born a Greek, I became a Roman by choice.
Slave!
Slave! Slave!
Born a slave!
I won my freedom.
Fellow Romans...
...I am a teacher,
and as a teacher I know that...
...when I have tried to teach the same lesson for a hundred times...
and still the pupil does not understand,
then I am forced to the conclusion that...
...perhaps there's something wrong,
either with the lesson...
...or with the teacher.
A hundred times we have taught...
...those we call barbarians...
...what it means to make war on Rome.
We've burned their villages,
we've crucified their leaders,
we've enslaved their young,
fires go out, the dead are buried,
the slaves die, slowly,
but their hatred that we leave behind us...
...never dies!
Hatred means wars.
Wars mean tribute...
...torn from our provinces,
taxes,
hunger,
disease.
How costly that is!
How wasteful!
And yet the answer is simple.
We must have no war.
No war?
When your friends continually attack us?
This is treason!
These people have proved their aims...
...very clearly.
To destroy us...
...and to destroy the whole Roman way of life.
And yet,
the answer is simple.
Let us transform, my friends, from men of war...
...to men of peace.
Let us put them on our abandoned farmlands.
Not only will they produce food for themselves,
but this I pledge you,
one day they will send food to Rome.
Yes, I agree!
Put them on those lands.
Let them produce for us but as slaves.
That is the way it has always been!
Niger here used to have twenty thousand slaves on his family estate.
Where are they now?
All sold or freed.
Why?
Because Niger is opposed to slavery?
No, because it's no longer profitable to keep slaves.
Slaves do not produce as much as free men.
Let us do what is profitable,
and right.
Let us share the greatest gift of all.
Let us give these men the right to Roman freedom.
And they will spread the word...
...that Rome has accepted them as equals,
then will we have our human frontiers.
The Roman peace...
...that Marcus Aurelius promised.
In the name of Caesar!
Caesar has asked me...
...when has Rome ever been greater or stronger?
I say in answer to Caesar:
Never has Rome been greater or stronger than now!
And what is it that has kept our empire together?
Our strength!
Our might!
Equality...
...freedom...
...peace.
Who is it that uses these words but Greeks,
and Jews, and slaves.
Behind him and his people are the Vandals,
untold millions of them,
waiting for a moment of weakness, ready to destroy us.
If we take these barbarians in amongst us,
our enemies will say it is because we are weak.
Then they will pour in on us from everywhere.
It will be the end of the Roman Empire.
It will be the end...
...of Rome.
The end of Rome?
How does an empire die?
Does it collapse in one terrible moment?
No. No!
But there comes a time when its people no longer believe in it.
Then... Then does an empire begin to die.
Fathers of Rome,
I have lived under four great emperors.
Trajan,
Hadrian,
Antoninus,
Marcus Aurelius.
And during all those years our empire grew.
Changed.
The law of life is: grow or die.
And you, the senators,
are the heart of Rome.
It is through you that the people speak.
Speak up! Let the world hear you!
Let the world know...
...that Rome will not die.
There are millions like them waiting at our gates.
If we do not open these gates they will break them down...
...and destroy us, but instead,
let us grow ever bigger,
ever greater.
Let us take them among us.
Let the heart of the empire grow with us.
Honorable fathers,
we have changed the world.
Can we not change ourselves?
Yes!
- It is time to change! - An end of war.
End to war!
Livius.
Oh, Livius.
You have won.
We have won.
We have won the Senate. We have yet to win Rome.
Rome is with you. The army's with you.
I'll be with you.
March against Commodus.
With you as Caesar all Rome will change.
You've defeated me.
Haven't you?
Since it was for Rome it cannot be your defeat.
It is all so very clear now...
...why you came.
To destroy me.
I could kill you, both!
As for the Senate...
If you try to oppose the will of the Senate...
I will not oppose the will of the Senate.
We'll allow your barbarians to settle,
But you...
You are no longer second in command to Caesar.
You will return to your northern frontiers,
and you will patrol them forever.
Until it is my pleasure to change my mind.
No, no, no, sister...
...I'm not giving you anymore chances to plot against me.
You will go back to your husband in Armenia,
and you will not see Rome or Livius again.
A few days ago...
...you were ready to make peace with Rome.
Over these past years we have made many peace treaties...
...with many tribes.
Of the northern peoples only you are left.
If you are afraid of the hordes of Vandals on your frontiers,
Rome will protect you.
Why do you refuse? Why?
Speak out clearly,
now!
Or be on your way.
All these years in this wilderness,
and what have we accomplished?
The first time in the history of the Roman Empire,
most of the north is at peace.
A man can be alone for months, years,
and then a moment comes,
that one moment that is too much.
Would that moment have come, if Lucilla were here with you?
A command from Caesar.
You are to return to Rome.
Livius!
Timonides!
Look! It's Livius!
All is well with us. We prosper.
They have a home, like a Roman.
As you see there's more than enough for ourselves.
We were right, Livius.
There's no limit to what can be done with the human spirit, for good or evil.
Have you heard from Lucilla?
No. I haven't heard a word, not for a month.
I hear there's a famine in Rome.
People are dying in thousands of hunger...
...and pestilence.
I must get there before nightfall.
I'm glad you prosper.
Terrible days, Livius.
I'm afraid the gods are angry.
They are torturing Rome with this...
...pestilence.
Thousands have died. I am alone.
I have no one to...
...turn to.
Except you.
I have not wanted to be away.
The entire East has rebelled:
Arabia,
Judea, Cappadocia, Syria...
- ...Egypt... - Syria and Egypt!
That is Marcellus and Virgilianus...
They were among the most loyal.
Yes, to my father.
Now they are raising armies against me.
Against Rome.
Even Sohamus has joined them.
He has forced Lucilla to flee with him, Livius.
Where is the eastern army, Commodus?
They have sided with the rebels.
There's only the northern army left to crush them.
And you,
you're the only one they will follow.
Livius...
...take command.
Do not give me this power, Commodus.
The gods are with me.
They will always be with me.
Go to the East and crush this rebellion.
Do not give me this power.
I'm not afraid.
You asked for this meeting!
Speak!
You are prepared to do battle against us,
even before you'd spoken to us.
You have rebelled against Rome.
Marcus Aurelius spoke of an empire of equal nations.
Rome will not tolerate rebellion!
We're old friends, Livius.
You are traitors!
You have caused two armies to mutiny!
You have threatened the empire!
We are not alone in this, Livius.
Livius.
Livius. Oh, Livius.
The gods were kind to us.
They sent you, you, you.
You're a part of this, Lucilla?
I am a great part of this.
Part of rebellion?
We are breaking away from Rome.
We will make our own empire here in the East.
An eastern empire!
An eastern empire? You will make chaos!
What will hold you together?
What will you do but divide the empire?
But not if you'd join us, Livius.
We will have all of Rome greater than ever.
What have you done, Lucilla?
I am trying to prevent the disaster my brother has set upon us.
They may be a great deal of wrong with what Commodus has done,
but this is not the way to oppose him.
I cannot let you destroy the empire!
Cannot? Cannot?
If you cannot join us, then take your army back to Rome.
Let us make our own destiny here.
And let rebellion go on unpunished?
I am part of this rebellion!
I am beginning to wonder if you ever loved me.
It is out of love that I dared so much.
Run, Lucilla.
Hide somewhere now before it is too late.
Because as certain as death,
we will fall upon the rebellious armies and crush them.
I do not run, Livius.
You have violated the truce!
We have done more than that, Lucilla.
We have joined with the Persians.
The Persians.
What can we do?
Join Livius?
How would Commodus repay us except with torture and death.
It is Romans against Persians...
...while we stand by.
Set the fires behind us!
If I die, Livius, know this:
I have given orders to have Lucilla killed at once.
The King is dead!
The king is dead!
I have lost! Let me die!
No, Lucilla. I want you to live. I want you to live.
I want to die. I want to die, Livius!
Hail Livius!
Commodus...
...Emperor of the Roman world salutes you and proclaims that henceforth,
you will be known as Gaius Martellus Livius Parthius,
Conqueror of Persia.
Caesar has asked me to say to you:
"Livius, my friend, my brother,
I wish you to share the throne,
to become Caesar with me."
But first...
...the following villages to be destroyed.
From each rebel city of Cappadocia, Syria, and Egypt,
five thousand persons are to be taken and crucified,
five thousand persons from each city to be burned alive.
We'll teach them to make revolution.
Stop the crucifixions!
Cease these men!
Romans!
Romans! Romans!
Now can we say to our Senate,
to our empire,
to the whole world:
Look!
Here we meet in friendship, the blond people from the north...
...and the dark people from the south.
What we have done here could be done...
...the whole world over!
Where is this gift from Gaius Livius?
It was Livius who did this to us!
Gaius Martellus Livius!
You told him I would share the throne with him?
This was his answer:
"Tell Caesar,
there will be a new Rome or a new Caesar."
Cleander!
Get me gold, Cleander.
Strip all the public monuments,
the temples, the gods and goddesses.
Get me enough gold, Cleander, to drown Livius...
...and his new Rome.
Destroy the Barbarians!
Men of Rome! Men of Rome!
Do not touch these people!
They've become your brothers!
Let them live in peace, they are Romans now!
Do not harm them!
The whole northern people will answer with death and fire!
Their hatred will live for centuries to come!
Romans and Roman blood will pay for this!
You will make nations of killers out of them!
Put aside your weapons, let us live together in peace!
Peace!
No! No! No!
What happened, gentle Greek?
Did you try to tell them there were three possibilities?
Did you not know there was a fourth possibility?
This!
This is the way they answer reason.
And now even you must see...
...that this is the only way to answer them.
Look at his face.
Tell me what I must do in his name.
March the army into Rome and drench the city with blood?
He is dead.
He does not seem dead to me.
I can still feel his life,
and can hear his words.
He was my father's friend.
I will go alone into Rome.
If I do not return by sunset,
then let the army into Rome.
I've been made a god.
Did you know?
I have ordered 30 days of celebration to mark the event.
Leave at once, Commodus!
I can still spare your life!
I've finally understood why they sent me this pestilence.
There was famine,
there were too many mouths,
so the gods made less mouths.
Commodus, the army is at the gates of the city.
If I do not return by sunset, the legions will march on Rome!
I offered you everything...
...and yet you put yourself against me.
You could have become a god.
Take a sword, Commodus, and I will show you.
I will show you how much of a god you are!
I will appeal to the Senate.
There must be some love for the empire left among them.
I loved you, Livius.
Yet now you must die.
But that's the sort of joke the gods love best.
You told me once you'd never heard the gods laughing.
Listen.
Listen, carefully.
Glorious Caesar!
Who has been named Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus...
...Augustus Pius Felix,
Pacifier of the whole earth, Invincible.
Invincible!
The Roman Hercules!
High priest! Emperor!
Father of his Country!
And now, Conqueror of Persia!
We are gathered here to beg permission of our divine Caesar...
...that he authorize us to proclaim that from this day forth...
...our empire be called,
not the Roman empire, but the empire of Commodus.
And that the city be called, not Rome,
but the city of Commodus.
You have my permission.
Gaius Livius is among us.
Gaius Livius wishes to speak.
Speak.
Honorable fathers of Rome,
what have you done?
What have you become?
You are the Senate of the people of Rome.
The voice!
The conscience of the empire!
Stand up!
Rid yourself of this man,
who has imperiled the life of the empire.
The northern army is at the gates of Rome. The army will support you.
- Traitor! - Traitor!
Treason! Treason! Treason!
From Caesar!
A change of command! A change of command!
Gaius Livius is no longer your leader!
Your new commander is Caesar himself!
Gold! Gold!
Caesar has sent gold for the soldiers of Rome!
Gold! Gold! Gold!
Gold!
Gold! Gold! Gold!
Three thousand dinars for each man in gold.
Three thousand dinars! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Three thousand dinars in gold for each man.
There's not enough gold in the whole world...
...to pay each man...
- ...three thousand dinars. - Look! Look!
You see, Livius,
the day has run its course and no army marches on Rome.
Our new god, Caesar, demands human sacrifices.
You, and these others...
...will be the first.
There is your great Roman army.
Bought for a handful of gold.
Gold! Gold! Gold!
What are we waiting for?
Let's take our share!
What about Livius?
What of the years you have given, Victorinus?
The blood you have shed. The comrades who have died.
Will you throw all this away?
Our time has come.
Time! Time of betrayal!
Deserters!
We are not deserters!
- We obey our Caesar! - Your Caesar!
Your Caesar is buying you!
If you touch that gold, you are a traitor!
- You are a traitor! - You call me traitor?
You are leading a rebellion!
Bolivius! Bolivius!
Run, Lucilla, save yourself!
It cannot be.
Not my father's army.
What's become of it?
There's nothing left. Darkness. Death.
- Run quickly, Lucilla. - Bolivius!
There's no use crying!
You don't understand all this, do you?
In the old days there was gold from the wars for the legionaires.
But your father,
he was a great man,
but with this new Rome, it has all changed.
Verilus.
Verilus. Verilus, help me.
Help me.
Help me save the man I love.
I want you to kill my brother.
I'll give you money, my jewels.
I'll give you everything I have.
There's nothing left for me, only my love.
There is not money enough in all the world...
...to pay a man to kill his own son.
Your son?
My mother?
My mother loved you?
Yes, she loved me.
And I loved her.
It's a lie!
It's a lie.
No, Commodus, it is true.
- It's a lie. - You should never have been Caesar.
- It's a lie. - You were not born for it.
It's a lie.
I'm his son. I'm an emperor.
Marcus Aurelius was my father.
You are not my father!
You are my son.
My son.
You are my Faustinus.
No!
My son.
Gods of Rome,
your empire has died!
The light of the world has gone out!
People of Rome!
Quickly! Quickly, run to your Livius.
Tell him the night is full of thieves.
They have robbed us...
...of our most precious treasures,
of our pride, of our glory,
of our wisdom, of our honor.
People of Rome!
Cry out!
Death it is near!
They do not see.
They do not hear.
Only the jackals who are waiting in darkness know.
Only the vultures who are wheeling the black skies know.
Mourn!
Mourn for land that is no more!
Oh, Livius.
Give me your hand, Livius.
Out of all we have fought for,
out of all our dreams,
we have each other.
We have each other.
Caesar commands: Put her in chains!
Livius.
Why did you come, Lucilla? You could have lived.
I love you, Livius. We are part of each other.
I live only if you live.
The army! The army!
When my father,
Marcus Aurelius, died,
you brought me a torch...
...and hailed me undoubted Caesar!
I swore I would not forget that,
so I'm paying my debts to you, Gaius Martellus Livius.
I have fought many times in the arena,
but they've whispered that no gladiator dare kill a Caesar,
a god.
Only you would dare.
If you fought me now,
the world would know it was to the death.
Kill me, and they are yours.
Victorinus,
no matter which one comes out alive,
you have the power now.
You have the army.
Make me Caesar
and I'll give you one million dinars in gold.
One million five hundred thousand dinars.
If you listen...
...very carefully,
you'll hear the gods...
...laughing.
Burn them!
Livius!
Go get the gold!
Livius!
Livius.
Wotan, avenge us!
Destroy Rome! Destroy Rome!
Hail Livius! Hail Caesar!
We are in command now, Livius.
Rome is ours. Take the throne.
- Be Caesar. - Gaius Martellus Livius...
...the people are asking for you.
The empire is yours, Livius.
You would not find me suitable.
Because my first official act would be to have you all crucified.
Two million dinars for the throne of Rome.
Two million dinars for the throne.
Two million five hundred thousand dinars.
Two million seven hundred and fifty thousand dinars.
- Two million eight hundred thousand. - Two million nine hundred thousand.
Emperor of the greatest empire in history?
From Britain to Egypt?
Ruler of the world?
More! Much more!
Three million dinars for the throne and the empire of Rome!
This was the beginning of the fall of the Roman empire.
A great civilization is not conquered from without,
until it has destroyed itself from within.