VESPASIAN: Previously on Those About To Die...
PORTO: The grain was delayed intentionally,
and rumors that a Flavian
-was behind the food shortages. -TITUS: A Flavian?
ANTONIA: Domitian, were he to become Emperor,
that would be the end of all of us.
Yes!
(GASPS)
(EXCLAIMS)
Um, the citizens, and to serve Rome
I will bring the glory of our campaigns...
No, no, no.
Um... Hmm.
As I have served Rome on distant battlefields... No.
Yes, what is it?
Perhaps, a suggestion?
VESPASIAN: Yes, words.
Give me the words. You're good with words.
I...
Titus Flavius Vespasianus...
I can't hear you. Louder!
(CLEARS THROAT)
I...
Titus Flavius Vespasianus
wear an iron ring.
Not gold,
not silver,
not encrusted with precious stones.
Iron, the stuff of the plough,
and the gladius,
and the bit in the mouths of the mules
my father and grandfather bred.
Emperor Nero of late, a patrician
of august family,
he wore gold.
He built the Domus Aurea,
the grandest house ever to be built
on land he stole from his citizens.
I, Titus Flavius Vespasianus,
will tear down that Domus Aurea
-stone, by stone. -(VESPASIAN CHUCKLES)
And in its place, I shall build an amphitheater.
Not for the masters of this city,
but for the entertainment and pleasure
of the citizenry.
The men of iron whose blood and toil
built this, our city of Rome.
I am stunned.
And to think I thought your instructors in rhetoric
were overpaid.
And the amphitheater, was that a sudden insight?
No, I've been considering it for a while.
What better way to sap power from the Circus Maximus
and the patricians who so resent our ascent?
Yeah.
Well, perhaps you already command one of my wings.
The political one.
DOMITIAN: It's just how I imagined it.
Vast beyond all comprehension.
Nero never understood the mob.
He was too focused on building his stupid Golden House
with its endless gardens and water features,
and playing his lyre.
My father fell asleep in one of his tedious concerts,
and Nero banned him from his court
and sent him to wage war in Judea.
In the end, suicide was Nero's last and only option.
And he needed to be helped with that.
(YELLING)
A young hothead.
Please, Great Domitian.
Understand he acted alone.
(OPENING THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
By the gods, I'm late.
When can I see you again?
When I can get away.
Midday? Evening?
Tonight?
We are nearly five weeks together,
and all you can think of is making love?
Do I?
I have to tell you something.
Something important.
-Tell me, what is it? -(SHUSHES)
Tonight.
Okay.
-Go. -Okay.
DRUSILLA: Which one would you like? This one?
This one.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
What's going on, Aura?
Now tell me.
(BREATH TREMBLING)
(GASPING)
(SOBBING)
I was there. I was there when that man tried to kill you.
And I knew something was wrong.
I knew it. And I should have turned around.
I should have helped you.
(SHUSHES)
(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SHUSHES)
(DRUMS BEATING)
ANDRIA: Ah! Elia! Welcome back.
You ready to go?
Did Ferox eat well this morning?
Celery for the blood?
We fed them back in Baetica.
And now we feed them even better here.
It's not like you to be late, little brother.
I overslept.
-In whose bed? -He wasn't home last night?
-Nor this morning. -Can it be,
he has discovered more to life than horses?
-(IMITATING HORSE SNORTING) -(LAUGHS)
Come, let's see if you have become a man.
-A Spaniard. -There is nothing to tell.
Yet, your tunic is on the wrong way.
-Come on. -(FONSOA CHUCKLES)
Do you think our little lovebird spent the night alone or...
In a cozy nest, maybe? Hmm?
I can see you are not in need of my help.
-So... -Elia. Elia.
We are happy for you.
Perhaps we can meet her one day.
(LAUGHS) Never would I commit her to such an ordeal.
Andria, the horses are ready.
ANDRIA: Drinks tonight to celebrate.
Just meant to say that this was all a terrible mistake.
Well, I can assure you no one will hear of it.
Good luck out there.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(CROWD CHEERING IN DISTANCE)
(CROWD CHEERING)
Today's a good day, is it not?
The games may make one feel such.
They do. Increasingly, even for me.
There's something more.
I, Titus,
Caesar Vespasianus,
give you this day's games
on building civic baths!
Already two months under construction.
And I announce that I am giving our beloved Rome...
an heir!
(CROWD CHEERS)
He learns more quickly than I expected.
(FANFARE PLAYING)
Hey.
If only my mother and father were here to see this.
All of Rome at my feet.
Don't crow unless you win.
PASSUS: Chariots!
Ready!
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
(CROWD ROARS)
Yah!
Andria's horses are flying.
-(LAUGHING) -(URGING)
Win me some money! (LAUGHS)
(CROWD GASPS)
Thank the Gods Andria was ahead of that one.
Fonsoa, I need your help.
Coming.
(CROWD CHANTING) Andria! Andria! Andria!
Yah!
(CHANTING) Andria! Andria! Andria!
Yah!
ANDRIA: Scorpus!
Scorpus, what are you doing?
SCORPUS: Yah! Yah!
(STRAINING)
Scorpus!
(ANDRIA SCREAMS)
Andria!
(SCREAMING)
Come.
GAVROS: Clear the table! Hurry! Quickly!
Come on. Come on.
(GROANS)
(GRUNTING)
(GASPING FOR AIR)
I would like to have met her.
And you will.
Ever the optimist. (GASPING)
Look after each other.
Promise me.
I will tell our mother...
of our great adventure.
ELIA: Andria.
Andria.
(SOBBING)
No!
(HORSES WHINNY)
CROWD: (CHANTING) Scorpus! Scorpus! Scorpus!
You fucking scum! You killed him!
He chose his line.
No, it was you!
You pulled to the left.
Tell me what you saw.
He pushed Andria to the wreck. He boxed him in.
TENAX: Enough of this.
Touch Scorpus again, and I will have your head.
And I will have yours for killing my brother.
Andria is dead.
It was an accident.
It's over.
I offer my condolences.
What a tragic accident.
-No. You lie! -Ours is a dangerous game.
Your brother knew that.
Look at what happened to Xenon today.
He's right, Elia.
You don't believe me.
I just didn't see what you say you saw.
He forced Andria into the shipwreck He boxed him in!
-No. -You cannot be sure.
I will have nothing more to do with you
or this Gold faction.
I have plenty more stablehands.
Elia.
It wasn't Scorpus. It was a shipwreck.
It happens.
You are just as bad as he is.
You are usually a better liar than that.
As Scorpus said,
there are other stablehands, but there's only one Scorpus.
(SIGHS)
Foolish of me.
I thought I had seen a glimmer of decency in you.
And you, brother? On whose side are you on?
GAVROS: May the winds take you to Elysium,
where the Gods will it,
we'll meet again.
I never had the time or money to shed many tears for others.
Is that how you justify cruelty?
That's how I explain it.
You can lie to others,
but it's dangerous to lie to yourself.
You are no longer a child.
You can more than afford the luxury of compassion.
Old habits die hard.
Is that an apology?
Perhaps it is.
I don't care enough about you to want your apology.
Those are the ones who need it.
I thought ours was an arrangement of convenience
to allow you to help your children.
I didn't know you would try to make me a decent man.
I don't care enough about your decency.
Or lack of it.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
I used to chase you by the river Baetis when you were young.
Now I do so again?
We're no longer playing children's games.
The last thing Andria would have wanted is that we are divided.
So come with me.
Elia!
Elia, wait!
If I were to walk away with you, what then of Salena and the boy?
This coming from the man who has never walked past a brothel
-with a few coins in his pocket. -That was before.
-And this is now. -(GRUNTS)
I can't turn my back on her.
Go on. What else?
Scorpus and Tenax offered me second driver with the Gold Faction.
This city has twisted you in such a way
that you would drive with the men who has killed our brother.
Says you alone.
Then Scorpus has taken two brothers from me.
(GRUNTS IN FRUSTRATION)
FONSOA: Elia.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
So,
he refuses to eat and he doesn't want to fight anymore.
ATTICUS: He doesn't want to be our puppet.
How many weeks now?
Almost five, My Lord.
And we only have two weeks until the Flavian Amphitheatre opens.
Hermes.
We've prepared some delicacies for you.
Figs.
Spanish olives.
Oysters.
You'll need your strength for the opening fight at my amphitheater.
You should thank Flavius Domitianus for his favor.
(SPITS)
Should we try that again?
Eat! And you will fight.
(MAN SCREAMS)
Try with that one.
They're friends.
The one he spars with.
So,
should we put an arrow through the neck of this northern barbarian?
I thank you for your gift.
Flavius Domitianus.
Loyalty, the dumb trait of the ignorant. You dog.
Well, now I have the most delicious
and entertaining way to kill that one.
(SPITS)
TENAX: Domitian likes a show.
It's not every day, we get to dispatch senators, even...
treacherous shits like these, no.
He'll want something special, something theatrical.
Perhaps if the Aedile Ludi himself were here, we could please him.
You may be the new master of the games, Tuccian,
but Domitian has made me legislator of the Aedile Ludi.
Do not question his authority, or mine.
Of course. Forgive me.
I understand your reservations.
But trust me,
I grew up in those stinking stands.
I know what the mob wants to see.
We need to entertain them.
To excite them, to...
thrill them.
Remember, enough is good.
More is better.
Too much...
is perfect.
How hard would it be to flood the amphitheater?
This is too generous.
Accept it for your son.
If not for yourself.
What else am I going to do with all my earnings?
I can only drink so much wine.
On one condition.
This is a loan, not a gift.
I will pay you back when I regain my shares.
If I regain my shares.
You will.
Things will get better.
(SNIFFLES)
Fonsoa, what is it?
It's my brother.
I miss him.
ELIA: What if Fonsoa is right?
What if it was just an accident?
I, uh...
I didn't have a good view of it.
You seem to be the only one who did.
Xenon!
He was right there. He must have seen something.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
XENON: Scorpus.
I am so sorry, my friend.
Are you?
Or did you just come to see if it's actually true?
That Xenon is finished.
Nonsense.
You and I will race again soon.
I've, uh, brought gifts.
So Atargatis can ease your pain and speed up your recovery.
What's this?
A gift.
To pay for physicians.
Anything you need or desire.
Thank you, but I have enough money to pay for my physicians.
Of course, I seek only to lighten your burden.
Do you think a few coins will buy my silence?
I don't understand you.
Yes, you do.
You forced the young Spaniard into the spina.
I saw it.
Well, you are mistaken.
You were injured. Your mind was not clear.
No, Scorpus.
I saw what I saw.
You killed that boy.
And I insist that you confess to the faction owners.
I cannot do that.
I would lose everything. I would never race again.
Please.
Xenon, after that evening,
I thought you and I were now friends.
Take your friendship,
and your gift,
and shove it up your ass.
Now get out!
XENON: (COUGHS) If you don't tell them, I will.
(CONTINUES COUGHING)
(XENON STRAINING)
(STRAINING)
Xenon.
Where is the physician?
Where is he? Come quickly.
He's not breathing.
SCORPUS: It's terrible thing.
Xenon,
is dead.
A loss for all of us.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
GAVROS: You may have heard.
We no longer work for the Gold Faction.
FIMBRIA: So you seek work?
GAVROS: Yes.
No one in Rome knows and tames horses better than we do.
Sadly, we have a full complement of stablehands and grooms.
You misunderstand us.
I wish to race.
-(SCOFFS) To race? -Yes.
Are you a charioteer?
I've never seen you drive.
What is this?
These gentlemen are here on faction business.
Clearly, and anything that concerns the Blue Faction is my concern.
This is Gavros.
Yes, I know who he is.
And this is Elia, brother of the Gold driver who died.
He has another brother. Still driving for the Gold.
Indeed, Romulus and Remus.
He hopes to drive, but he's untrained and unproven.
Come closer.
Closer.
Your brother drives for the Gold.
Why would you race for the Blue?
Because Scorpus drives for the Gold.
I will face him on the track,
and I will defeat him.
You said he's unproven?
FIMBRIA: Yes.
Then you must prove yourself.
(CLICKS TONGUE)
Go to our stables and rig up. I'll be there this evening.
FIMBRIA: There are hundreds of young men wishing to drive for the Blue.
Why give him a chance?
The one thing that sets him apart.
His hatred.
You could have told me you wanted to drive.
Was it such a surprise?
Not really.
But still, you should have told me.
See you at the stables.
I've been wanting to see you.
I heard about your brother.
My heart bleeds.
There's nothing anyone can do.
I have to tell you something.
And I need to tell you something, too.
I'm going back home, to Spain, to Baetica.
-What? -I must do something first.
But as soon as I can, I'm leaving.
I'm sorry.
My Emperor.
Porto tells me you have an accusation to make.
I merely have information to impart, Lord Titus.
Don't play with words. Treat this like a field report on campaign.
I believe your brother Domitian is responsible for the grain delays.
And food riots.
TITUS: Do you have proof?
A navigator on one of the grain ships,
it sank off the coast of Sicily, but he was rescued and then arrested.
The witness is being escorted here as we speak.
And how does telling me this benefit you?
I seek only to serve you and serve Rome.
Hmm.
I have many clients, open and secret in the Senate,
enough to sway any vote.
I offer you full and sustained support
for your construction projects.
And in return you want?
Financial participation in the Flavian Amphitheater.
(CHUCKLES) That's a strange desire.
There's no profit in that. Only costs.
For now.
Done.
Porto, post your most trusted man in Ostia to wait for this navigator.
Bring him before me as soon as he arrives.
You have my thanks, and my loyalty, Caesar.
I'm only interested in the latter. You may go.
I have to say, brother, I've seen you with steadier aim.
Nothing used to unnerve you.
Not even Father's cough.
DOMITIAN: Leave us.
Greeks, they say that
forgiveness is easier to grant when it's preceded by confession.
What do you wish me to confess?
I'm told by Senator Leto
that his shipping agents have found proof
that you delayed the grain.
But brother, I cannot confess to something I didn't do.
Apparently, there was a witness
en route to Rome who will corroborate everything.
Apparently, covers a wide range of outcomes,
and Leto is a self-serving, ambitious patrician,
who's resented our ascendancy from the start.
I know both of these things.
And yet you asked me to confess to some apparent misdeed.
Not quite.
I'm learning how to play this game from you.
So I'm telling you an accusation about you,
and I'm watching how you respond.
And what do you see?
Well, that's the part I'm still learning.
I see either a somewhat strange, but loyal brother.
Or the best liar I have ever seen.
Domus.
I think you'll be pleased with the show I've devised.
You have failed me.
You were to cover my tracks for the grain delays.
A navigator, from a grain ship, has survived.
He's been brought here to Rome to testify to Titus.
Then we kill him. His dead words against your living ones.
-Where is he? -It's too late for that.
He's already made a written testimony.
All that's left is for him to confirm it with my brother.
If it's too late to kill him, then what?
We kill my brother.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
The moment is upon us. Kill, or be killed.
All right, who among the Praetorians can we buy?
Hermes.
(MOANING)
(KISSING)
Domitian.
Come, join us.
Take him.
What? No, no.
Domitian, please, please. I don't understand.
Not without my permission.
I'm so sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No!
Please!
No, please!
(GRUNTING AND GROANING)
(GASPING)
(GRUNTING AND GASPING)
(GASPING)
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
IRIS: Here. This is everything he paid me.
PIMP: Sit down.
Iris. Come home with me.
You're coming with me.
Where are you going?
She's my property, you bitch.
(GASPS AND GRUNTS)
(BONE CRACKS)
(GRUNTS)
If you go near her again,
I will kill you slowly. Bitch!
Iris, come.
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
-Troubled? -You as well?
My daughter, Aura.
She is no longer mine.
I lost her to Rome.
You told me...
that it's fine to lie to others, but dangerous to lie to yourself.
I took that to heart.
You're learning.
I might not be quite the scum you think I am.
And there is a chance I am of patrician blood.
(SCOFFS)
You Romans are so foolish.
You think blood matters?
In Rome, blood is everything.
With the right blood, a man can do anything.
The whole world opens up before him.
And will your new, high-born friends, ignore the stench
of where you've been and what you've done?
They've ignored worse.
I can't tell if you are excited or frightened.
Frightened.
I have to do something terrible.
Which would have once given me pleasure.
But now, if I'm a Roman of the first order,
it terrifies me.
Then only think of the pleasure.
No.
Not...
No, what? Not yet?
I didn't say that.
But you were thinking it.
Perhaps.
(DOOR CLOSES)
In Samnia, I have a cousin.
He worked underground in an ossuary.
Draining fluids from the dead,
preparing them for the crypts.
There is nothing lower.
He escaped that.
He took his own life?
No, he enrolled by free will
as a gladiator at the Ludus Magnus.
Do you mean he wasn't a slave?
Many are slaves.
But some come there by choice.
Choosing death by another's hand.
Maybe not.
It's been three years, and he's still alive.
He eats, he has a place to sleep, and is treated with respect.
It's not just men.
They enlist women as gladiators as well.
-Women? -The crowds find it amusing.
But sometimes, a woman fights so well,
that they stop laughing.
Whoa. (SHUSHES AND WHISTLES)
-Hey, easy, easy. -(HORSE SNORTS)
Incitatus.
You are hungry, huh? (CHUCKLES)
Here.
Here you go, boy.
Back home in Spain, my grandfather used to say,
horses are prey, and men are predators.
To get a horse to run, we must convince them
that we are not what we truly are.
Killers.
First, you let them know that you are not going to hurt them.
Whoa, shh. But that is not enough.
To get a horse to run is easy.
To get him to really fly,
for him to give his heart and soul,
and sweat and muscle,
I must love him.
And he must know it.
And if I tell him the right way, how much I love him,
he will do anything for me.
You made a bad bet.
I don't know.
Perhaps Titus won't be Emperor for much longer.
There's too much of the soldier in him.
Not enough politician.
Who will supplant him?
Domitian. Of course.
And if that were to happen,
all those loyal to Titus, would likely die with him.
Nobody likes loose ends.
Rome has had warrior rulers who died as old men.
In wartime maybe.
But this is peace. Far more dangerous.
In peace, you don't want warriors.
You want street fighters.
Ten million sesterces in gold, two days from now,
here in this place,
and if you try to bargain,
it merely tells me Domitian lacks the resources to succeed, and I will kill you.
And report his treason to Titus.
Two days.
Domitian is closer to death than you think.
And if he dies, so will his friends.
Nobody likes loose ends.
Ten million.
Two days.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
ELIA: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Easy, easy.
(HORSE WHINNIES)
Yah!
(CONTINUES URGING)
Andria!
Yah!
(CONTINUES URGING)
Did you know? He's fast, very fast.
(GRUNTING)
(MUSIC PLAYING)