Long live the Emperor!
Call upon the noble Apius Junius Silanus to speak.
Senators, I was summoned here from Spain by our emperor.
By our late emperor.
THEY LAUGH
I need hardly describe to you the feelings with which I made the journey.
A few months ago, hearing that an old friend was sick, I went to see him.
"What is it that ails you?" I asked him.
He smiled. "Apius Silanus," he said,
"I have been summoned to Rome."
He meant, of course, that he was dying.
I arrived here yesterday.
Today, the emperor is dead instead of me.
Let that notorious phrase "Summon to Rome"
perish with him from our language forever.
And let us return once again to the sanity of a republic!
THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD
Senators, senators! Senators!
The Praetorian guards have carried off Caligula's uncle Claudius
and proclaimed him emperor.
Did you not hear what I said?
The guards have proclaimed Tiberius Claudius emperor!
THEY ROAR WITH LAUGHTER
Come on, sir. Drink up.
I d-d-don't want any wine.
Well, do you
mind if I...
No, do as you like.
I'm your prisoner, not you mine.
No, no. You're not our prisoner.
You're our emperor!
I've told you a thousand times, I don't want to be emperor.
You are a funny chap.
I'll bet you're the only person in this country who doesn't want to be an emperor.
And yet here you are, chosen to be one.
Life's full of irony, isn't it?
Hail Caesar!
I have no right to that title and you've no business using it!
I told you, he's being very awkward.
He's been uncooperative all the way here.
Leave us.
You know, sir,
I knew your brother,
the noble Germanicus,
on the Rhine years ago.
We tried to make him emperor when Augustus died.
But he'd have none of it either.
My brother believed in a republic.
Yes, well, that's all very well for the likes of you, sir.
The members of the Imperial family,
you can afford the luxury of republican sentiments. I can't.
I rose through the ranks.
Besides, I've got 4,000 men who need an emperor
if they're to be gainfully employed.
I need hardly remind you what the result might be
if they're let loose with nothing to do.
KNOCK ON DOOR
Excuse me, sir. There's...
a chap here who claims to be the king of Bashan.
Claims to be, or is?
Well, I don't know. I didn't know there was a place called Bashan,
let alone a king of it.
Do you know him, sir? Well, if it's King Herod, of course!
L-L-Let him in!
Congratulations, Caesar, on your election.
May you long enjoy the great honour
these brave soldiers have bestowed on you.
There you are, sir. You see? And he's the king of Bashan!
You've arrived at the right moment.
It seems that though we have elected him emperor,
Tiberius Claudius has a republic in mind.
Perhaps you can persuade him to see the consequences of that.
I wish you wouldn't keep taking it off, sir.
It really does suit you.
What is the matter with you, Herod?
Do you intend to go along with this farce?
Listen to me, old friend,
and be thankful I arrived in Rome at this time.
I know your views. So I know exactly what you're thinking.
You have some idea of yielding up your power to the senate at the
earliest possible moment.
Of course. You mustn't!
First, it would be signal for civil war.
The senate are a flock of sheep.
But there are several wolves among them,
all convinced they should be emperor.
Secondly, the moment you relinquish your power, you're a dead man.
Why? I believe in a republic.
You're a danger to the assassins.
They have already killed Caesonia and the child.
What? Don't you see?
A republic necessitates the death of the whole imperial family, not just Caligula.
Where's Selina? Oh, she's safe.
All that matters now is that you put aside
your ancient prejudices, my friend, and accept the reality that is.
If you do not, I cannot answer for the consequences.
These two have been sent to summon you to the senate.
What happened to them? They're fortunate to be alive.
The guards almost killed them.
Don't you know they're persons i-i-inviolable? Sorry, Caesar.
I'd have given them protection if I'd known.
It's a disgrace. Well, what does the senate want?
Pardon us, Caesar.
Stop calling me that!
The senate would be obliged by your immediate attendance at the house.
They are anxious to know your intentions.
What? Take our emperor?
Not a chance. Dump them in the Tiber!
Get back, all of you!
Tell the senate that our emperor remains here.
When he leaves, he leaves with 4,000 guards behind him.
Give my compliments to the senate.
Tell them I am unable, for the moment,
to comply with their request.
And give them safe conduct back to the city.
Caesar.
Out.
Move on.
Do nothing until you hear from me.
I shall try to arrange a meeting
between you and leading members of the senate, but in the palace.
Make your mind up to it, Claudius.
For good or ill, they have made you emperor.
If you don't accept, you won't survive.
Or any of your family.
If you do nothing else, accept.
At least for the time being.
TRUMPET BLARES
Senators, I understand you do not want another emperor.
But it seems you have
been given one.
I sympathise with you.
I d-d-do not want to be an emperor.
But it seems I have been chosen one.
Perhaps you would take a little moment to sympathise with me?
Your appointment is unconstitutional.
I agree. But there are 4,000 Praetorian guards who do not.
And who created that Praetorian Guard?
You did, in the reign of Augustus.
It is against the constitution for anyone but the senate to appoint an emperor.
It is also against the constitution to m-m-murder one!
And if you hadn't done so, Marcus, we shouldn't
b-b-b-be in this absurd position!
You're not fit to be emperor.
I agree.
But nor was my nephew.
Then what difference is there between you?
He would not have agreed.
And by now, your head would be on that
f-f-floor for saying so!
There are those who say you cannot hear properly.
You cannot speak properly,
and you have got no experience of government.
And that I am besides half-witted.
Senators, it is true I am hard of hearing.
But you will find it's not for want of listening.
As for speaking,
again, it's true I have an impediment.
But isn't what a man says more important than how...
..long he takes to say it?
It is true again I have
little experience of government.
But then, have you more?
I, at least, have lived with the
Imperial family
who have ruled this empire ever since you so spinelessly
handed it over to us.
I have observed it working more closely than any of you.
Is your experience better than that?
As for being half-witted,
well, what can I say?
Except that I have survived to middle age with half my wits
while thousands have died with all of theirs intact.
Evidently, quality of wits is more important than quantity.
Senators, I shall do nothing unconstitutional.
I shall appear at the next session of the senate
where you may confirm me in my position, or not, as you wish.
But if it pleases you not to, explain your reasons to them!
Not to me!
Now, you may all leave my house.
Except Marcus and Asprenas.
And bring in Cassius Chaerea and Gaius Sabinus.
I feel a fraud.
You won't when you begin work. There's much to do.
You're doing very well.
Caesar, Gaius Sabinus is dead. He has taken his own life.
All of the officers involved in the conspiracy have been arrested and are awaiting trial and execution.
I cannot find it in me to condemn you for killing my nephew.
But you also murdered the Lady Caesonia and the child.
And you meant to murder me and my wife.
None of whom had ever done you any harm. I did it for the republic.
And I would do it again.
You did it more for injuries to yourself than for the republic.
But even that doesn't weigh with me.
What weighs with me is what I've heard.
That it was agreed among you that only Caligula should die.
But that you took it upon yourself to kill us all.
Is that true? Why should I deny it, when your very existence here
proves that only your death would have ensured the return of the republic?
Then you leave me no choice
but to condemn you for the murder of Caesonia and the child.
Take him away. Congratulations, Caesar.
You've passed your first sentence of death.
How many more will you pass before
they grow tired and pass one on you?
Isn't that the way we've set for ourselves?
Think about it, Caesar! Think about it!
The investigation into this affair
is closed.
CROWD: Hail, Caesar! Hail, Caesar!
BABY CRIES
Oh, he's dribbling. Oh, shh, shh, shh!
Claudius, there's no need to show him on the balcony
every time you come in to see him.
Well, I like to show him.
People like to see him.
Next to you, he's the most important thing in my life.
I can't thank you enough for him.
I'm so very much in love.
And so am I.
I've given him to a foster mother to nurse.
You're not going to breastfeed him any more?
No, my dear. Now, wait.
I've thought a great deal about it.
Now, be honest.
Have I been a help to you since you became emperor? Of course.
What would I have done without you?
What would I have done without her?
I want no small husbandly praises.
I asked you to let me revise the senatorial role.
Who should be left on and who should be taken off. Was I efficient?
I was amazed, truly, at how much detailed knowledge
you had of everyone.
And all the detailed work I did connected with your office as director of public morals.
Yes, it was a revelation. Yes, truly.
You've been a great help to me.
As Livia was to Augustus?
Yes. My darling,
I want to be Livia to your Augustus.
You know I have a brain in my head, as she had.
I'll never be content just to be the mother of children.
Oh, of course I shall love them.
They'll be yours, how could I not?
But I must work alongside you and relieve you of some of the small
and petty burdens that have been thrust upon you.
And will breastfeeding my little son
interfere with all this great work of state?
How would you feel if you had to
break off in the middle of a senate meeting to breastfeed a child?
Not once, but four or five times a day?
Yes, I can hardly find time to feed myself.
Very well.
All right. Now, I shall leave you to rest.
And you too should rest.
You've not stopped for a year.
When do I have time to stop?
If you're not going to feed my son, I shall find you other work to do for me.
I told you he wouldn't be angry.
You are very fortunate to have such an understanding husband.
Considering that he is also emperor.
Well, he loves me and I help him.
I don't know why you want to concern yourself so much with matters of state.
It's not a woman's place.
It may not be yours, Mother, but it's mine.
Do you not intend to have any more children?
No. Does your husband realise this?
Not yet.
How would you prevent it?
Oh, Mother. You're such a mouse.
Do you think a wife must give in to her husband every time he insists?
And one of his age?
There are ways of being nice to a man without risking pregnancy every time.
Have you never thought of marrying again?
You know, you're still an attractive woman.
I've thought of it.
Why, do you want to get rid of me?
Of course not. On the contrary, I'd hoped that you and any husband
would continue to live in the new palace.
Well, there's nobody who wants me.
Not even Apius Silanus?
Why ever did you say that?
Well, weren't you fond of him once?
Oh, well.
What a memory you have, you were so young.
Oh, I remember him very well.
He used to come to the house quite often.
Well, that was a long time ago.
And besides, he was in Rome at the time of Caligula's assassination,
but he never came near me.
Perhaps he lacked encouragement.
Well, he went back to Spain and I've no desire to live there,
so stop making plans in that busy little head of yours.
So Livia's a goddess at last, that will please her.
I think she wanted that more than anything.
Yes, I've kept my promise, though
I never dreamed I'd ever be able to.
But the senate orderly granted my request this morning.
Livia takes her place among the gods.
I should like to be there in heaven when she arrives,
and the divine Augustus takes her by the hand
and shows her to all the gods.
Oh, how proud he'll be.
Lady Messalina's excessively romantic.
Yes, I'm a lucky man, am I not?
Shall we tell him?
Since he's going away, let him be the first to know.
She's pregnant again. So soon?
You see, even Herod thinks it's too soon.
My love, it wasn't my fault.
Well, whose fault was it, then?
Well, no. I mean, she gave... Our little son had to be nursed, well...
As I understood, she does so much work for me, it was inconvenient.
But it's well known breastfeeding is a sure guarantee against pregnancy.
When is it due? In July.
I shall send it something very special indeed.
What am I going to do without you, my friend?
Won't you change your mind and stay?
No, Caesar, you don't need me any more.
Need you? Who's going to tell me how to borrow money,
or what the corn factors are saying in the city?
You have good people about you now who can tell you far more than I can.
Messalina, make him change his mind.
He has kingdoms of his own to govern,
and you've given him several more than he had when he arrived.
Oh, yes.
Yes, I mustn't be selfish.
But it's true, all your principal advisers are freedmen.
It would be good to find a noble man to take the place of King Herod,
on whom you could absolutely rely.
Are you thinking of someone?
Yes, my love. You see how she works for me?
Her mind is clever still.
Who? Apius Silanus.
Oh, no, he's Governor of Spain.
Well, yes, and a man of immense experience. He's wasted in Spain.
You should bring him to the palace and have him permanently at your side.
He has republican sentiments. Well, haven't I?
He spoke out strongly against you in the senate after the assassination.
Augustus never inquired into people's political beliefs.
He always said that was not his concern.
I shall always do the same.
I'm not sure Silanus would like to live in the palace.
The new palace, which you've turned into offices.
I have a feeling the lady Messalina is ahead of us.
What are you thinking?
It's only a suggestion, but you know my mother was fond of him once?
It would please her to marry again and I'm sure that Silanus
would not be averse to a connection by marriage with the emperor's family.
Have you added matchmaker to your list of chosen careers?
Of course, if you don't approve...
I'm j-j-joking.
I think it's a very good idea.
What do you think?
As from today, I cease to give advice on any subject.
Well, I'm tired. I shall leave you both to talk.
Good night, my dear. Have we tired you out?
No, of course not.
Goodbye, King Herod.
If your people love you as much as we do, you are a fortunate king indeed.
I shall be thinking of you
in July.
Good night. Good night.
Am I not the most fortunate of men, Herod?
Now, why have I deserved such luck?
It's fool's luck, little marmoset.
You've always had it and you always will.
One day, I'm sure, you will be an Olympian god when I'm only a dead king.
You know, when I first came to Rome, you all seemed like gods to me.
Oh, I'm sure I never l-l-looked like one.
Yes, even you.
Do you ever think of those days at all, little marmoset?
Lately I've been thinking about them a good deal, and with good reason.
I'm thinking of writing a book about my family.
What sort of book?
The truth.
Will you tell everything?
Everything, as an historian should.
Not great tales of heroic exploits as Titus wrote, but the plain facts,
the kitchen details, even the gossip.
Why? Why should you want to write such a book, eh?
Why rake it all up?
Because I owe it to the others to tell the truth,
to Postumus and Germanicus. Why?
Because they're dead,
and a man should keep faith with his friends, even though they're dead.
You see, I've been so very fortunate in my life
when they, who were born more deserving, have not.
I have had only three real friends in my life,
Postumus and Germanicus were two,
the third one is you.
Listen, Claudius,
let me give you a piece of advice.
Oh, I thought you'd finished with advice.
One last piece and then I'm done.
Trust no-one, my friend.
No-one.
Not your most grateful freedman,
not your most intimate friend,
not your dearest child, not the wife of your bosom.
Trust no-one.
No-one?
Not even you?
SHE GROANS
Is it all right?
Beautiful, beautiful.
BABY CRIES
Is it a boy or a girl?
Well, let us at least get the engineers to survey it.
We've always wanted a safe winter harbour,
everyone has always said it would cost too much.
Let us find out.
Caesar, Caesar! The child is born!
Caesar, your child is born!
The child is born, Caesar!
It's a girl.
Oh! She's heard my prayers!
I'm coming. Let's have no more discussion.
Get the engineers to make that survey, then we'll decide.
It'll cost 10 million, more.
Well, the more expensive it is, the less likely it is it will ever be built.
What are you suggesting?
That we exaggerate the cost?
Oh, my dear Narcissus, you have money in corn,
I have money in corn, lots of people have money in corn.
The more corn that can be landed in winter, the lower the price will be.
That worries me.
That could be construed as a very selfish point of view.
Are you saying there is less selfishness in wanting the price of corn to be low?
There are more people who want it to be low.
Doesn't that add up to more selfishness rather than less?
But that is sheer sophistry, one cannot argue with you.
Let's get the engineer's report,
I'm quite sure the cost
will take care of the philosophical considerations.
I must have fallen asleep.
You're tired.
You don't look well,
you work too hard. Yes.
Yes, but so do you.
You're not so young as I am.
What does your doctor say?
They all say that
I work too many hours, I should work less.
Well, they're right.
You should leave more things to other people.
Yes, well, I'm going to see another doctor soon,
a Greek recommended by Herod.
Do you think that wise?
Our own doctors are so clever.
Well, what can I lose?
How is my little daughter?
Cutting her first tooth.
The nurse showed it to me today.
Oh, that's painful.
Poor little thing.
I think I have the most adorable husband in the world.
He feels everything so deeply.
You have the most adoring.
What did you tell me the other day were the three main pillars of the Temple of Love?
Frankness, kindness and understanding. Why?
I want to put them to the test.
What have you done?
Nothing.
But there is something I want to do and for which I must be frank.
And for which I must be kind and understanding?
Well, tell me.
Could you possibly allow me to sleep in a bedroom of my own for a little while?
Oh, don't look like that or I shall hate myself forever.
Oh, I should never have suggested it.
Do you not love me any more?
I could understand that, I am so much older than you.
Oh, my dear.
I love you more than I ever did, don't you know that?
Well, it's because I do that I don't want to risk
a third pregnancy in so short a time.
Well, don't you see what it could do to our marriage, to our love for one another?
My love, I would never force myself upon you.
Do we have to sleep apart, couldn't we at least share the same bed?
Don't you see how much more it would hurt our marriage
if you felt passionate to me in the night and I felt I had to refuse you?
And if I did not, how remorseful you would feel afterwards.
Oh, I've hurt you.
I should never have mentioned it.
Oh, how long would you want this separation to last?
Oh, not long. Well, let's see how it goes.
You know I couldn't keep away from you forever.
I shall slip into your room now and then when you least expect it.
I think that could be even more fun, don't you?
Pardon me, Caesar, but you asked me to let you know
the moment the noble Apius Silanus arrived.
He is here. I'll see him shortly.
Oh, no, wait. I'm leaving.
Let him come in.
Well, he's had a long journey.
Well, very well, my love.
If you think it would be good for our marriage to be apart
for a little while...
Women know more about these matters than men.
I'll have the servants arrange another bedroom.
Oh, there's no need for that.
Well, since you agreed that it's a very sensible proposal,
let's do it properly and remove all temptation.
I'll move into a suite next to my mother in the new palace.
After well, my offices are there too.
It'll be much more convenient.
The noble Apius Junius Silanus, Caesar.
Hail, Caesar. Did you have a good journey?
Excellent. The roads are in good shape.
Do you know my wife, the lady Messalina?
Only as a girl, you are even more beautiful than you were then.
I'm so glad you are here.
You shall be a great help to my husband.
I'll tell my mother you've arrived.
Perhaps we can all meet at dinner.
It would give me great pleasure to see her again.
Your eyes are inflamed, but I can deal with that.
I'll give you a lotion to bathe them with.
Slight retraction of the eyeballs.
You had infantile paralysis? Yes.
Well, there's nothing I can do about that.
The rest of your body is fairly sound, though.
Good strong arms, you developed those to compensate for your legs.
Were you a premature birth?
Yes. Thought so.
And you've had measles, colitis,
erysipelas...
And scrofula. Can you tell all that just by looking at me?
And using my brains.
Your food is not properly digested from yesterday.
Well, we had a wedding yesterday, Apius Silanus married
my mother-in-law.
I probably ate too much. You must stop that.
Never get up from a table without wishing you'd like something more.
I suppose you get wind?
Yes, well, if you do, let it out. Don't hold it in, it causes injury.
I don't mind which end you let it out, but let it out.
The man who puts good manners before good health is a fool.
I suppose it's no point in prescribing exercise?
What time do I get for exercise?
You must have work to do,
you can get up now.
Now, Caesar, listen to me. You work too many hours.
You won't reduce them, all important people think
they're indispensable, but read as little as possible.
Get your secretaries to read everything to you.
Rest for an hour after your principal meal,
don't go to the law courts as soon as you finish your dessert.
And you must find time for 20 minutes' massage twice a day.
I've got a very good masseur.
Get rid of him. The only good masseurs in Rome are slaves of mine.
I'll send one. What about these cramps in my stomach?
What cramps? If you will eat large meals quickly
in a state of nervous excitement, you must expect cramp.
But I'll give you some medicine to relieve them. Ah, medicine.
Some secret preparation, I suppose?
Can I get that here or should I send away for it?
You can find it on the nearest piece of waste ground, it's bryony.
Common bryony?
That's right, I'll leave instructions on how to prepare it.
And what about the prayers?
What prayers?
Don't you prescribe special prayers to be used when taking the medicine?
I suggest, Caesar, that as high pontiff and the author of a book
on religion, you're more qualified to prescribe prayers than I am.
Do you Greeks believe in nothing?
I told you what I believe in. Bryony.
Hail Caesar.
You asked to see me?
Yes.
I, too, wish to see you. I have not had an opportunity of speaking to you since the wedding.
Which, I understand, I owe to your good offices.
Yes.
You have done me a kindness. And, I hope, your mother.
Let me speak with you for a moment.
Come and sit beside me.
I love you. I've always loved you, ever since I was a girl.
No, no, don't say anything.
In all the years since you stopped coming to our house,
I have never once gone to sleep at night without thinking of you.
Not once. Can you understand that?
Not one single night have I slept,
without thinking of your arms about me.
I have burned inside, thinking of you.
And now you are here.
Here.
I-I don't understand.
My darling, I've arranged all this to have you near me.
I have dreamed of nothing else.
Oh!
Then I must tell you that these are the fantasies of a young girl.
They are the sort of dreams we put aside when we grow up.
But I have not put them aside, nor will I.
Am I to understand that
my marriage to your mother, which you brought me here to...
that that was a farce?
It was in order that you and I could sleep together?
My mother is not important. And your husband?
Claudius? Why?
Do you think I'd arrange all this without his consent?
Why do you think we sleep apart?
Those are his arrangements - not mine!
Not that I mind.
His sexual practices are abhorrent to me.
Why has he agreed to your sleeping apart?
Because he now wishes to practise them
with the wives of several senators.
He wants me kept amused while he
does so, and he expects you to do it.
That's why you're here.
Then let him tell me that himself.
You simpleton!
Do you think he would tell you himself?
He will deny it, of course he will.
You disappoint me.
I thought you more sophisticated than to confront a man
with an arrangement he is agreeable to, but would prefer not to discuss.
Are you all so brutally obvious in Spain?
Everything is arranged, my darling.
You're right.
I am a simpleton.
Having lived through the reigns of three Caesars,
and seen the depths to which Rome has sunk beneath them,
I should have known better than to believe a fourth could be any different.
I have a granddaughter nearly your age.
I won't deny that I am of an amorous disposition.
I have been all my life.
But I wouldn't touch you, for all
your beauty, with a ten foot pole.
You forget who I am!
Not the girl you once teased and joked with,
but the emperor's wife!
I have only to raise my voice and tear my clothes for you
to be executed on the spot!
I give you one week to come to me of your own accord and on your knees.
If you do not,
I shall tell my husband that you refused me,
and, in refusing his wife,
you will have insulted him.
He has become very vain, you know.
You're wasting your time, lady.
I've lived too long to become the
bedtime toy of a 17-year-old girl.
Your threats are wasted on me.
We shall see!
Yes, we shall see.
And Rome will see how easy it is to straighten one's back
and hold one's head high, when the will is there.
Well? What is it?
It's a plan for rebuilding the harbour at Ostia.
Well, of course it is. Whose is it?
It was made in the time of the divine Julius.
Where did you find it, Caesar?
In the archives. It's almost identical to the one
Tautius has just produced. Come and look at it, Silanus.
What's the matter with you?
Are you ill? No, Caesar.
What relevance have these plans?
You will be interested to learn
that the engineers working under
the d-divine Julius
estimated this rebuilding would take four years and cost 4 million gold pieces.
The estimates presented to me are for 10 years
and 15 million gold pieces.
Caesar, those estimates are 90 years old.
Are there less days in a year now? Less hours in a day?
There has been an increase in the cost of materials.
Prices have risen by no more than a quarter.
How do you explain my Chief Engineer's estimate?
W-w-w... I can explain.
Everywhere, for instance, you underestimate the amount of earth
that 100 men can move in a day.
Are men weaker now than they were then?
The topography remains unchanged.
Yet, on the divine Julius' plan, they were cutting through earth.
In yours, you claim we were cutting through r-rock.
I can't understand it. Let me explain it, then.
Your surveyors have been taking bribes from the corn factors.
Caesar!
S-Shocking, isn't it?
I can't think why they should.
I can. To keep up the price of corn.
Would you agree, Silanus?
Yes, Caesar.
Very well. You will begin work on the basis of these estimates.
Revised, of course, for the difference in prices.
Even so, Caesar, where is the money to come from?
We shall get the first million on loan from the corn factors.
A million? They can't raise that kind of money.
You will be amazed at what they can raise in return for my agreement
not to begin an inquiry into allegations of bribing my officials.
Yes. It's very late. You may all go.
We will visit the harbour tomorrow.
I should like a word with you alone, Caesar.
Oh, very well. Come and look at these plans, Silanus.
You didn't take much notice of them.
The divine Julius certainly knew what he was about.
They are remarkable.
In many ways much better than the ones Claudius has produced.
The only thing they leave out
is the building of their island between the two moles. Come and look at...
Help! Help me!
Get off me!
Help!
Wait! Wait!
Get up! Get up!
Caesar, you are hurt. I'll fetch the doctor! It's all right.
Silanus tried to kill me.
Why? Why? Let me have him, Caesar.
He'll talk. Why, Silanus? Why?
Tyrant!
Tyrant? I don't understand.
What harm have I ever done you?
I brought you back from Spain.
I connected you by marriage with my family.
Yes, to put me in bed with your wife!
And service her like a bull!
What do you mean?
W-W-What do you mean?
You're all the same. Don't toy with me, Caesar. I'm not a slave.
Do what you have to do.
I ask you again. What do you mean?
You know what I mean!
How predictable you emperors are! All your reigns begin and end the same.
From vices timidly concealed to vices openly displayed.
One follows the other as surely as decay follows death.
Fetch Messalina. And fetch her mother.
Oh, get it over with, Caesar. We've all seen this play before.
Don't make us sit through it until the end.
You will explain that calumny on my wife and on her mother. And if you
do not, or will not, to my satisfaction, you will surely
d-die for this attempt on my life!
What is it?
What's the matter?
Silanus has tried to kill the emperor. Silanus?
But why? Why would he do such a thing?
I don't know. I thought perhaps you could tell me.
What have you done? What do you know about this?
I know nothing.
Nothing! Do you think I would plot to kill my own husband?
There's no time to discuss it now. You must support everything I say.
Do you understand?
Oh! Do nothing that will incriminate Silanus. He is my husband!
Oh, you fool! Do you think I brought him back from Spain for you?
I love him! I've always loved him! You're monstrous!
KNOCKING ON DOOR
You will tell my husband what I tell him!
Do you understand? If you do not,
I shall say that you were part of it all.
I'll say you agreed to it!
KNOCKING
Oh, my dear!
Oh, what's happened? Are you all right?
Yes, yes, I'm all right. The doctor... I'm all right.
Silanus tried to assassinate me. I'm all right.
I want you to look at him.
I want you to look into his face.
Now, repeat to her what you said to me.
Let's finish with this. Get it over!
Repeat it. For whom? For her, who told me what I told you?
Or for you, who knew it all to begin with? Repeat it!
I told your husband what you told me.
That he had arranged my marriage to your mother so that you could become my mistress.
And that he had done it so that you could be kept amused,
while he took his own perverted pleasures elsewhere.
It was there and then that I decided to kill him,
to strike a last blow for Rome and end this plague of emperors!
Well?
Oh, Silanus!
How could you?
He is sick with love, my dear, for me.
I should have told you.
I should have come to you at once,
but I thought it was a madness that would pass.
Apparently, he has loved me ever since I was a little girl.
I had no idea - how could I?
Since he returned,
he has pestered me day and night, sometimes
pleading, and sometimes angry and violent.
I think
perhaps, in his mind, he does in some way believe what he told you.
That I had arranged his marriage for our convenience.
You poor deluded man!
How could you think there was anyone dearer to me than my husband?
When he came to me today, he was so violent,
that I said I would come to you, and how you sent him away.
That's when he threatened to kill you!
I never in my wildest dreams imagined he would carry out such a threat!
Bravo! Beautifully played!
That performance should be enshrined in drama.
Is this t-true?
Yes. His passion for my daughter has turned his wits.
Have you anything to say?
Only that what I did, I'd do again.
Then you leave me n-n-no choice.
No! Oh, no!
Please, my dear.
I beg you. I couldn't bear for him to die because of his love for me.
Punish him, but let him live.
He must die, Caesar. No!
SHE SCREAMS: No!
An attempted assassination cannot be punished with banishment.
Such a precedent would serve only to encourage others.
What a soft heart you have.
Even after all the lies he's told about you,
but Pallas is right.
The heart cannot rule the head in these matters.
I cannot do it even for you. N-no!
I sentence you to die, as you sentenced me.
Take him away. May you rot in hell!
And that she-wolf with you!
Now, leave me. All of you.
I'm tired.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 2006
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk