The Ram Has Touched The Wall
"My dear friend...
Gaius,
how are we come
to this absurd position ?
In the interests of peace and equity,
I accept..."
The Senate and people of Rome
have authorized me to accept.
"...The Senate and people of Rome
Have authorized me to accept a truce..."
No, not "truce". That would imply
that he is a sovereign rather than a criminal entity.
Quite right.
A criminal.
"...have authorized me to accept
a cessation of hostilities
on the terms offered in your last letter.
I await your answer."
- Good enough. - Good enough ?
This abject humiliation is good enough ?
We are not men. We are worms.
Worms is harsh.
Worms cannot run away as speedily as we do.
Caesar has not even left Rome,
Gods know why not.
Yet his legions chase us
from town to town with great ease.
We're more like sheep than worms.
If our levies had not failed, if we had money to pay troops...
Yes, but they have and we don't.
Let us cleave to the matter at hand. Pompey,
you must give some notion of when you will agree to meet him in person.
Never.
There is no reason for them to meet.
The dispute is between Caesar and the Senate.
It is the proper form.
I'll not meet the man. Never.
Like a son, he was to me.
What he was like to you is immaterial.
It is only by Jupiter's mercy
that he has not already put our heads on pikes.
Mercy ?
Jupiter has no mercy for cowards.
- Cato, be careful. - You'll accept abject surrender !
This is not surrender !
Pompey Magnus* does not surrender.
* Magnus = The Great Pompey got this nickname thanks to his exploits against pirates in Mediterranean Sea in 67 b.C.
I need time.
A truce gains us that time.
Verrus Horta sends three jars of amber
and informs us he has left the standard of Pompey.
He entrusts his living to your abundant mercy.
- Horta ? - Pederast, waxy skin, red hair,
- estates in Tusculum*. - I have him, the wretch.
* City of the Latium. Cicero owned a villa there where he wrote in 45 b.C. "Questions debated at Tusculum", a kind of philosophical dialogue.
Send a small bag of money with a fulsome letter
and make him a quaestor* or something.
* First charge to get in the "cursus honorum", the succession of magistracies. They supervise the Treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its provinces. Caesar raised their number to 40 (they were only 4 before Sulla’s dictature).
Show such mercy to every man that deserts Pompey,
you will pauperize yourself. There's dozens of them coming every day.
Judicious use of mercy is worth 10000 men.
And if my last coin buys me a throne, it's a fair price.
- A throne* ? - Poetic license. What else ?
* Posca’s reluctance is legitimate. Romans have hated the word "king" since the Tarquinii’s expulsion in 509 b.C. with which begins the republic.
Atia invites you to dinner tonight.
Again ? Bona dea*.
* *Bona dea means "the good goddess". Faunus' daughter, sometimes called Fauna, she was a goddess of fertility, healing, virginity and women.
- Not tonight in any case. - What excuse shall I give ?
None.
This is the second time you have refused an invitation from her.
I need not account for myself to Atia.
As you say, not a sapient choice, perhaps, but brave, sure.
They say slaves talk of bravery as fish talk of flying.
They say that, do they ? How very witty of them.
"Seeking only justice and peace
and to avoid the unnecessary shedding of Roman blood,
Gaius Julius Caesar has publicly implored
the renegade Gnaius Pompey Magnus
to accept truce and lay down his arms."
What are you doing ?
It's rather fun, and there's quite an art to it.
Strange boy.
I have just heard a very strange tale
about you from the kitchen staff.
For what possible reason I wonder,
would you and Caesar be skulking about in a cupboard ?
What ?
We were... It was nothing.
Nothing ? It doesn't sound like nothing.
You seduced him, you sly little fox.
I did not.
I am not clear it is decent,
him being your great uncle, but who's to say
what's decent in times like these ?
In any case, well done.
Let's see Servilia compete with a soft young boy like you.
What power we shall wield !
You have it wrong.
A good lover is a discreet lover.
He was taken ill. I was helping him to recover, that's all.
Of course he was, my dove.
Now in the future you must not appear too eager.
A man likes it if you play hard to get.
Why don't you leave him alone, mother ?
Now, I have invited Caesar and Mark Antony for dinner tonight.
We'll be sure you look
- especially handsome... - I am not his lover !
Do not lie to me.
- You know I detest it when you lie to me. - I am not lying.
He has an affliction. A terrible affliction.
Affliction ? What affliction ? By whom ?
I... I will speak no more of it. I swore an oath.
Oath be damned ! I am your mother. Tell me.
Excuse me. I will not.
Well, that's very disappointing.
Caesar sends to say he cannot come this evening.
No matter.
Why not ?
He doesn't say.
Titus Pullo is sleeping on the stairs again.
- Has he nowhere else to go ? - He won't be in Rome much longer.
Tell me, when is the youth returning ? Your husband.
- Crito. - Crito.
When does he return from his droving ?
- November. Why ? - I'm selling my slaves today.
There'll be money enough spare for your dowry.
So when Crito comes home, you and Lucius can go to him
and start your married life proper.
Thank you, father ! Thank you !
We'll be sorry to see you go.
November ? It's so soon.
They have to go at some time.
- Of course, of course, but November ? - I know it's hard,
but it has to be done.
They'll be so far away. You know how these drovers live.
But mama, I want to go. I want to be with my husband.
I know, I know. Of course.
You must go.
It's just hard.
Morning.
Trouble you for some water ?
Sit down.
You should be in camp.
Nothing to do there. It's boring.
Take some bread.
I'll not, thanks.
I'm not feeling too well.
You're drinking too much.
No, it's not that.
I ate some depraved oysters*.
* In a censored scene (cut but it’s on the DVD) from Kubrick’s "Spartacus" Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier) asks Antoninus (Tony Curtis) whether he prefers oysters (women) or snails (men).
Where's your girl ?
Girl ?
Cack !
I know it's one of these. I know it !
Stop worrying.
Even if we can't find her, you can get another.
I don't want another.
I want Eirene.
You'll be off South after Pompey before long.
You can't take her soldiering.
Maybe I won't go back to camp.
My time is nearly done anyway.
Leave the 13th ? Why ?
- You did. - You are not me.
You have no talent for peace.
I can't just leave her.
You think with your penis.
It's not like that.
- I've not touched her. - Then what purpose does she serve ?
I just like to look at her. Makes me calm*.
* There’s a pun : Eirene means "peace" in Greek.
Here she is.
Thank you, Apollo.
The girl is his.
No trouble. Pay what's owed,
- and the girl is all yours. - What's owed ?
You should be paying me to drink the pond filth you serve here.
Pullo !
How much ?
I'll pay you back soon as I can.
Do that.
So what will you do with her ?
I don't want her.
Say again ?
I don't want her. It's nice of you to think of it...
But you want a slave. You keep asking for one,
and here she is. Pullo can't keep her,
and it costs us nothing.
Can't I have one of your Gaulish slaves ?
I've told you, my Gauls are unseasoned.
Cut your throat as soon as sweep your floor.
This one's trained up nice and docile.
What is wrong with her ?
She has strange eyes.
You drive me insane !
The girl stays.
Keep calm, sweetie. Keep calm.
How can I be calm when Pullo's
put that little witch to spy on me ?
He knows, Rissa, he knows.
Big simple brute like that ?
If he even suspected anything,
he'd go straight to Vorenus and tell him, wouldn't he ?
- Course he would. - You really think ?
- He doesn't know nothing. - Really ?
Sure of it. So he saw Evander round your house.
So what ? He's family. He's allowed.
- That's true. - You're getting worried over nothing.
Gods, let it be so.
Poor sad wretch gives everything you asked for.
The Senate will ratify your status,
you get your triumph*, stand for consul,
* Civil and religious ceremony when a successful general can defile with his troops and his spoils (fortune, precious stuff, slaves). Only the Senate can grant a triumph and only men of senatorial or consular rank can be granted.
and Pompey shall withdraw to Spain.
He'll suck Posca's cock if asked nicely.
Too generous by far.
I never thought for an instant Pompey would accept such terms.
You think it's a stratagem ?
I doubt it.
He and what few forces he has are trapped.
He's weak, and growing weaker every day.
We might crush him at will.
But now that he has offered truce,
I will look like the worst kind of tyrant if I attack him.
Posca here thinks I should accept the truce.
- Make peace. - In exchange for what ?
Peace is it's own reward.
Snivelry.
The ram has touched the wall. No mercy.
Pompey has no great army, but he has the Senate with him.
He has legitimacy.
In Rome they are the Senate.
Beyond the walls they are just 300 old men.
As you say, Antony, but others will agree with Posca.
They have made this shameful surrender public.
It will be read all over Italy.
If I am not a tyrant,
if I merely seek legitimacy,
why would I not accept such favorable terms ?
He refuses to meet us...
in person ?
Very good. Simple.
Hoi polloi* can understand a reason like that.
* Means in Greek "the many" and denotes the masses, the people.
He refuses to meet me face to face,
man to man.
He refuses to meet me !
Right, that's it.
No truce.
Let's be after them.
Patience.
He's well caught.
We'll leave when the time is right.
When ?
When the time is right.
But we should have left Rome long ago.
The apple is ripe for the plucking,
and we just sit here doing nothing ?
Pompey is not an apple
And I am not a farmer.
Call for my guard.
First spear centurion, Lucius Vorenus.
I have been looking for your return.
I'm no longer in the army, citizen.
I've come to sell my stock.
Ah, well...
Black blood flux.* Nothing to be done.
* It's probably dysenteria, since "black flux" is an old name for this illness but I'm not sure. It is certainely not the Black Death since in the show black flux doesn’t seem so contagious.
Flux ?
I kept 'em here despite the stink
so you'd know I'd done you nothing dodgy.
Nobody to blame.
Fortune left you one at least.
Auspicious boy that is.
How much will he fetch ?
A respectable price.
More than enough to pay the feed bill.
Feed bill ?
They didn't starve to death.
Move !
Nothing ?
Not nothing.
a good price when he's healthy.
- What's that ? - Your father brought him back from Gaul.
What will we do till then ?
- To keep ! - We're selling him
as soon as he gets some color.
What will we do after that ?
- What's his name ? - He hasn't got one !
We'll call him Rubio after my pigeon that died.
We've nothing saved.
Don't worry. I will think of something.
And again.
This is a rout.
Shall I be merciful ?
I think not.
How will you pay your debt ?
All that I have is already yours.
What else can I give you ?
Don't leave me again.
I never left you.
The men are going mad from boredom.
Just today I had to cut the hands off a perfectly good legionary
for murdering a civilian.
Then...
I had to listen to a jumped-up freedman
raving,
for hours
about one of my centurions seducing his daughters.
It all sounds very tedious.
It is your uncle's fault.
He should've taken the legions South
after Pompey.
The men know it, and it makes them restless.
Of course...
He pretends it is a stratagem.
But every dog in camp
knows that Servilia has unmanned him.
He will not be parted from her.
I...
As you can tell,
am not unmanned.
Intolerable.
Intolerable !
Calm yourself, mother, please. You've become unbalanced.
Why care so much who he beds ?
It is trivium.
How you take after your father... Simple as milk.
If he were not mewling in bed
with that witch, he would be chasing down Pompey.
It is not trivium.
The republic is at stake.
Since when do you care about the republic ?
I care deeply about the republic.
It would be very unwise
to cause trouble about this.
Of course.
I wouldn't lower myself.
Such sordid couplings have a way of turning out badly anyhow...
by no one's special doing.
Tutor has arrived.
Good !
Your tutor has arrived and waits in the rear yard.
Tutor ? What tutor ?
It's high time you learned the masculine arts.
How to fight
and copulate and skin animals
and so forth.
There's plenty of time yet for all that.
Plenty of time for you to bury yourself in worthless scribbles.
You may read those old Greek fools
until blood runs from your eyes, you'll be none the wiser.
I cannot agree.
The Greek philosophers have much to teach us.
Well, here's a Greek philosopher for you.
I've engaged that soldier of yours.
Vorenus ?
Was that it ?
Not the sullen catonian one,
I don't like him.
The cheerful brutish one.
- Pullo. - That's it.
What extraordinary names these plebs have !
Pullo.
Defend !
Shield. Shield.
Don't wave it about.
Shield.
Enough !
Water.
This is absurd.
I have no soldiery stuff in me.
And this exertion brings on a fever.
I feel it in my spleen.
You're just not used to it.
It takes time.
I've seen you kill.
There's plenty of soldier in you.
It's not the killing.
It's the waving about of swords I find tedious.
I dare say I can kill people readily enough,
as long as they're not fighting back.
Never fear, young dominus.
* dominus = master
We'll make a regular terror of you.
At best I will be a middling swordsman.
- It's better than nothing. - There you are wrong.
The graveyards are full of middling swordsmen.
Best to be no swordsman at all than a middling swordsman.
Don't do that !
Excuse me.
Young dominus...
I need your advice
- on a delicate matter, if you'd be willing. - I am.
Suppose you saw something which made you suspect something...
Something terrible.
Would you tell the husband of the suspicious article ?
Supposed suspicion of what ?
Another man.
We are speaking of Vorenus and his wife, I presume.
I never said that.
It seems to me that suspicion alone is not enough to speak.
Once spoken out, the suspicion of such depravity
is real enough to do the work of truth.
And what if you are mistaken ?
Then Vorenus is dishonored by error.
Facts are necessary. Without facts, you must remain silent.
I knew you'd hit the jugular.
Refuses truce.
What now ?
How happy, eh ?
To be a slave.
To have no will.
To make no decisions.
Driftwood.
How very restful it must be !
- Erastes Fulmen. - Centurion.
I have come to seek your counsel.
Always happy to help a friend.
I need to borrow some money
and I am told you have friends in the lending trade.
I do.
I only hesitate
because I'm surprised.
You was well-found.
My slaves were taken by the black flux.
But once I raise capital,
I'll go up North and buy some more.
I have good contacts in Narbo*.
* City of Gaul, today Narbonne (southwestern France).
Be needing a big chunk then ?
I will.
I cannot.
Wrong to lead a citizen like yourself down that path.
Rough business, moneylending.
Man can't pay, he may have to suffer.
Was I to introduce you to a lender, I would be...
putting two wolves into one cage.
To neither's benefit.
You're right.
Thank you for your time.
Centurion, there are other ways to make money.
Man like you, there's situations his simple presence would be valuable.
A man like me ?
A hard man.
First spear centurion in Caesar's mighty 13th.
- I'm no longer in the army. - No matter.
Your bearing is enough.
You would lend dignity and strength to business transactions.
If you like, I could use you myself.
Show you the onions.
That's good of you, but
I still don't see what I would do exactly.
You would come with me to discourage trouble.
No one's going to mess with a first spear centurion.
I'd be a bodyguard.
Good money.
I told you ! I told you !
I'm sorry,
I couldn't help it. I can't...
Damn you !
Damn her ! I am your wife.
Me. I am your wife.
Lyde !
That's lovely.
It's not too army-like ?
Like a man of deep business.
I'm no business man. I'm just a bodyguard.
It's a start.
Servilia, Caesar's whore
Please, please, just for me.
What is the matter with everybody ?
Caesar's sucker
Lock him up, girls ! Lock him up !
Oy, Calpurnia !
Calpurnia !
Ooh, yes !
* Caesar, Servilia wanton
- Calpurnia... - Do not trouble yourself with denial.
I did not intend to.
Be rid of her and we'll say no more.
- Let us not... - Or divorce will follow.
Perhaps that is not enough to deter you.
Be that as it may, I am indifferent.
We cannot divorce now. Her family*'s influence will be critical...
* Calpurnia belongs to the mighty Piso family and is Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi’s daughter, a Cicero’s friend.
I know it.
Caesar fucks* Servilia
* "futat" is an hapax. With this mistake, they probably try to make people think than the ones who drew the graffiti are plebeians who can’t even conjugate.
Bring me out the smaller scales.
Centurion,
- you're right on time. - Citizen.
Why do we not meet in the forum ?
Forum's only for closing deals, putting a hand on it public-like.
Enough of that Teuton droning !
If you want to whistle like someone's bum-boy,
whistle a good Roman song at least.
And she complained I was like an elephant.
Tanjit, my honey duck,
- you're looking well. - Erastes Fulmen.
I kiss your mother's feet.
Please, sit.
Would you like something to eat, drink ?
- Wine will do. - We do not have wine.
- Milk, perhaps ? - Milk ?
Run out of piss, did you ?
Humor. Very good.
I'm sad to have to come here, Tanjit.
I'm very depressed.
I thought we were businessmen,
I thought we understood each other,
yet here we are.
Here we are.
I'm only going to ask once.
Where's my money ?
Where's my truffle pigs ?
50 pigs you have as ordered.
50 diseased and scrofulous pigs.
- And one knows how to find truffles. - Tricky beasts.
Haven't been eating acorns, have they ?
Fucks them for truffling, too much acorns.
I will give you one quarter price. Out of friendship.
You'll give me every mumping denarius you cack-faced cunny !
Really,
There is no call for rudeness.
I'm told Hindus live on after death. Is that true ?
Our bodies die and decay as yours will.
But our souls live on eternally.
Well, that's nice arrangements.
You're not afraid to die then ?
Not at all.
Break his arm.
Break his arm !
Give me my money, you monkey's cunt.
Kiss my ass !
Cut his throat.
Cut it !
What are you doing ?
What happened ?
What's wrong ? Tell me.
Erastes Fulmen asked me to kill a man.
You refused him ?
What else was I to do ?
- I am no bandit. - Of course you're not.
You couldn't do other than you did.
But how are we to pay the rent ?
How are we to feed the children ?
He's here !
I'm so glad ! I thought you might not...
I regret, I cannot stay.
I've come to say goodbye.
Goodbye ?
I'm going South in pursuit of Pompey,
and we shall not see each other again.
What ? Never ?
Never.
Don't joke so.
I am not joking.
Is this because of some foolish graffi...?
Servilia,
we are done.
How can you say that ?
We love each other.
Be assured,
it is not that I do not love you.
I do this against my own inclination.
There are, however, larger issues at stake,
and I must do what is right for the republic.
The republic* ?!
* Compare to Racine, Berenice, IV, 5. The French playwriter used a quite famous Suetonius' sentence ("The Lives of the First Twelve Caesars", Titus): "Titus immediately sent away queen Berenice from the City, much against both their inclinations". In Racine's play, some of these words are used and there's too the same fight between Titus's love for Berenice and his ambition as Emperor.
Why so happy, mother ?
No reason.
None at all ?
No clever little plan bearing fruit ?
None at all, my poppet.
Nor should you suggest otherwise...
To anyone.
What's all the fuss ?
We go South tomorrow.
Excellent.
If we move fast, Pompey will be eating dust by the kalends*.
* Kalends are on the first day of each month.
You'll remain here with the 13th to keep the peace.
Keep the peace ?
The city will be in your charge. I'll leave Posca to assist you.
That's ridiculous ! I'm a soldier, not a peacekeeper.
You will follow orders, damn you !
I was considering...
I'm sick and tired !
...I have a farm near here.
Lovely at this time of year.
I was considering that I might go there.
Stay for the harvest.
Perhaps you'd like to join me ?
That is very kind.
But I think I will stay here.
No good will come of staying.
I don't know.
The sea air is bracing at least.
If you do not go then I cannot go, I suppose.
It would look cowardly.
What matter ?
You would know it were not so.
I would know, certainly.
But I do not have a grand
a grand shining old name like you.
I must keep my name well-polished,
else it looks very dull.
I must stay then.
I'm sorry, old man.
Soldier !
You're on duty.
The general will see you now.
Copy this.
What do you want, citizen ?
I've reconsidered my position, sir.
I wish to accept your offer.
My offer ?
Of entry into evocati*.
* After 16 years of service, retirement is possible. Evocati (= the recalled ones) are veterans recalled in voluntary charge.
If same terms still apply.
I said you could join evocati ?
With respect, sir, you did.
What terms did I offer ?
Evocati prefect, first grade, 10000 sesterces.
That's a generous offer.
One which you declined.
Normally, I would never make the same offer twice,
but you're lucky.
Caesar is away,
and I am here alone.
And I shall need good men.
So I give it you
promotion to prefect
and 9000 sesterces.
Thank you, sir.
In return for my generosity, Lucius Vorenus,
I expect loyalty.
Loyalty unto death.
Unto death, sir.
Welcome home.
Dismissed.
Put him here. Domina*...
* Domina = mistress
This is one of them that drew the filthy pictures.
Didn't take long to make him speak, eh ?
Eh ? Creature !
Who hired him ?
Timon, the horse Jew.
Atia's man.
Dress me
- It's done. - They'll have you back ?
They will.
Evocati prefect, first grade, 9000 sesterces.
I've sold myself to a tyrant.
It had to be done.
Thank you.
Gods of the Junii,
with this offering ask you to summon
Tyche*, Megaera* and Nemesis*,
* Tyche is the allegorical goddess of the Destiny, the Greek equivalent of the Roman Fortuna. * Megaera ("Grudging") is one of the three Furies who hunt the criminals down (see belong note for the line 712). * Nemesis is the allegorical goddess of the vengeful fate.
so that they witness this curse.
By the spirits of my ancestors,
I curse
Gaius Julius Caesar.
Let his penis wither.
Let his bones crack.
Let him see his legions drown in their own blood.
Gods of the Inferno,
I offer to you
his limbs,
his head,
his mouth,
his breath,
his speech,
his hands,
his liver,
his heart,
his stomach.
Gods of the Inferno,
let me see him suffer deeply,
and I will rejoice
and sacrifice to you.
By the spirits of my ancestors,
I curse Atia of the Julii.
Let dogs rape her.
Let her children die
and her houses burn.
Let her live a long life
of bitter misery and shame.
Gods of the Inferno,
I offer to you
her limbs,
her head,
her mouth, her breath,
her speech, her heart,
her liver, her stomach.
Gods of the Inferno,
Let me see her suffer deeply,
and I will rejoice
and sacrifice to you.
Here we are then, friend.
What do you want ?
Tell us what's between you and Niobe.
Niobe ? Nothing.
Never.
I swear by Jupiter, never !
Furies* tear my eyes out if I lie !
* Furies (Greek Erinyes or Eumenides) = Alecto, Megaera and Tissiphone They're allegories for Vengeance. Their heads are wreathed with serpents and their eyes full of blood. They hunt the criminals and torture them until they drive them mad (hence their name, "Furor" in Latin means "madness").
What were you doing when I saw you with her ?
My wife... We were fighting.
I went to Niobe for advice, that's all.
I was crying, if you want to know the truth,
And Niobe commiserated with me.
I would never... I would never...
Maybe he's telling the truth.
Lying.
I'm not ! I'm not !
Lying.
If he says you're lying, then I believe him.
This boy is clever like you don't know what.
- No, please, I beg you ! - Hush.
Don't embarrass yourself.
We know you're lying.
We know it, you understand ?
We have to kill you.
I never touched her.
Evander, move forward. Your life is over.
The only question is,
how do you want to die ?
We need to hear the truth.
If you persist in lying to us, we'll torture you.
You'll die only after many hours of agony and horror.
But give us honesty now, and you'll go swiftly,
painlessly.
- Please. - Evander,
tell the truth.
Torture him.
Juno's cunt, but you're salty.
and I was worried about bringing you.
Go on then.
I've never actually tortured anyone.
I don't know how.
You don't know how ?
They have specialists !
Why not cut off his thumbs ?
That's good enough.
It's a start.
Niobe and I were lovers.
I confess it.
Kill me if you must.
Hold !
What else ?
Nothing else.
Kill me !
You're lying again.
You stand at Pluto's door.
* Pluto is the god who rules in the Underworld.
Will you sully his threshold with lies ?
I am done talking.
Cut off his thumbs.
The child !
- The child is mine ! - Child ?
What child ?
Lucius.
The baby.
Please, kill me now.
Please.
Lucius ? Vorena's son ?
Niobe's son.
My son.
It's mine.
We have buried this evil now.
You must never speak of it again.
Vorenus must never know.
Never.
Father Mars Strider*,
* Strider is a translation of "Gradivus" ("He who precedes the armies in the battles").
this man has done faithful vigil for you.
We therefore ask you to take him under your protection.
May his enemies flee from him.
May their city walls crumble.
May their cattle and women be taken.
This man
is now evocati.
Sir, they've sailed for Greece.