How many dead?
About two hundred.
Fighting still continues in the Subura.
My father's funeral?
Safe to go ahead tomorrow.
Senators,
I thought the intention of these games was to calm the citizens,
not inflame them.
The problem is this new Gold faction.
Things were stable when we were just the four of us.
What do you expect from a new faction owned
by a plebeian and a damned Syrian.
It gives the lower orders ideas.
So, what do you counsel?
Simple, end the Gold faction.
Interesting.
Let's put that aside for now. I have a greater concern
about which I'd welcome your input:
since the time of the kings only three Romans: Julius Caesar,
Caesar Augustus and Claudius have been deified,
declared Gods.
My father, the Great Emperor Vespasian, should too be deified...
join them as a God.
That's a bold request.
The priests and augers tell us that he has earned his rightful place
among the Immortals.
Just as your four factions have earned you the exclusive right
to run at Circus Maximus.
I bow to the priests...
and we'll move in the Senate
to deify the Emperor Vespasian.
As will I.
How does it look?
Gold!
Down with those!
By order of Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasianus,
permission to run in Circus Maximus
is hereby withdrawn from the Gold Faction.
Let's go!
Fonsoa, wait!
- Calm down. - Calm down?
I quit the Blue.
I told Marsus and Antonia to go fuck themselves.
Better that than you fuck her.
No! No, don't make jokes.
I am the one being fucked
by you.
Atarkatis, why did I listen to this Roman fool?
Scorpus is the best driver in Rome, best ever.
Highest paid in history. And I threw it all away for this
"golden shitshow"?
Scorpus, settle yourself!
Your greatness goes unquestioned.
I can fix this.
I believe these are my chariots.
Gavros?
Ah, white!
Take them out immediately.
Wait!
- No, no! - Elia!
Peace! Peace!
You're nothing more than... common thieves!
I paid for those.
So did I.
Well, I didn't actually pay for them.
But I was thinking about it.
I'm done.
No more Gold faction for Scorpus. I'm out.
Out!
By the Grace and Power of the Gods,
we crown Titus Flavius Vespasianus,
Leader and Emperor of Rome.
Who are those women?
The Vestal Virgins,
Guardians of Rome's Eternal Flame.
Untouched, unmarried, loved only by the city itself.
They have great powers.
A mere look
from one of them can save a condemned man,
a touch can set a slave free.
That one, I was her witness.
She's the daughter of my mistress Antonia.
She was only seven,
when the Vestals took her
She cried, begging her parents not to give her away.
How could a mother do that?
Father, I don't wish to offend you. But are you mad?
A tax on urine?
It's not a tax on urine,
it is a tax on the sale of urine.
Urine bleaches white
the clothes that we wear.
Do you understand?
Money.
Smell it.
Smell it!
Do you find that smell offensive?
It has no smell.
Precisely.
Money...
pays for our legions.
It helps us supply our citizens with baths for their health
so they don't rise up and slit our throats.
Money.
An Emperor,
even a prospective one,
knows that money...
does not stink.
It can build your legacy.
Brother.
Romans!
I, Titus Flavius
Vespasianus, stand before you.
An Emperor,
a General,
and a grieving son.
My father
gave you the Flavian Amphitheatre to hold the greatest games on Earth.
My legacy:
I shall reconstruct the Aqueduct Virgo now in ruin.
Water will flow for the benefit of every Roman.
And once more,
I will give you the greatest public baths...
...ever seen by man.
- Move everything in. - Yes, my Queen.
Yes, bring that one and this one. Yes, this one first, go on, go ahead,
May I have a word, my love?
Can it wait?
Tell me,
who will build these baths
and remake Rome for you?
We'll discuss that later.
You promised you would free my people after you became Emperor...
but I see now you had no intention of doing so.
You sought such a promise, I never gave it.
Not in so many words.
My words were precise.
I told you I would do it, if it was in the interest of Rome.
- A vision has told me otherwise. - A vision?
My father spoke to me, told me to build these baths for the glory of Rome.
As such it pleases me to use your people to that end.
You lied to me.
As you said,
later.
The rioting has been quelled.
But there is now fear that the granaries will be empty again.
That the grain was delayed intentionally.
And rumours
that a Flavian was behind the food shortages.
A Flavian?
That's impossible that was Father, and certainly not...
...me, and that leaves...
You're holding something back.
You have two faults.
Well, only two?
Two that matter:
you love your mistress more than you should...
and you trust your brother more than you ought.
The first
fault, umh...
that is my affair.
As for my brother, well, I love him, true, but I am no fool.
You think him behind the grain delays, behind the riots?
There are rumours.
Find out if there's substance to them.
We have a problem.
Two hundred on Red.
We got 20, I think.
Forty on white.
Move!
Shout out your bets! I said move.
One hundred on blue.
Fifty on Blue.
Your Highness.
The others convinced my brother to get rid of the Gold faction.
I thought as much.
- Can you get us reinstated? - Perhaps.
There's something I need you to do first.
Your predecessor, my doer of dark deeds.
A certain Lucius.
I've had the misfortune of meeting him.
He wasn't as deep in the shadows as we hoped.
I need you to obscure his tracks.
They blame you for the grain shortages and the food riots.
Not yet...
but suspicion is a short step from blame.
I'll take care of it.
It'll be my pleasure.
Do what you can to get our Gold faction reinstated again.
That sounded rather like a command.
You are my client
not my partner.
You serve my interests in the hope I deign to serve yours.
Forgive me.
I'll do what you ask.
Who was that man with Domitian?
His name is Tenax,
he's from the Subura.
And a criminal.
I need to know more about him.
Come for me!
Is there anyone else, Lucius?
No...
no.
I told you everything. I swear.
Come on.
He won't break.
Give it to him harder.
I'd expect you to be busy with the Queen of Jews
this time of the night.
Careful now. The ice you walk on is not so thick.
There's a man,
said to have led the recent food riots, Lucius. Do you know him?
No.
Some says he is of your employ.
Some say Titus beds monkeys and dogs.
That make it true?
I do not know him, my Emperor.
Then you will not care that this Lucius is dead.
Beaten first...
perhaps for information.
Perhaps for pleasure.
Men seen with Lucius are dead also.
The Harbor Master at Ostia,
all were involved in grain delivery.
As if they were covering their tracks.
Brother.
Look me in the eye.
Did you delay the grain delivery to embarrass me?
You think I would embarrass father?
That I had the mob call for Flavian blood, just to embarrass you?
- Did you? - No.
Confine him. He mustn't leave without my permission.
- But brother... - He shall remain...
until I've found the truth. Leave me.
Do you believe him?
I cannot yet decide.
The riot would've been a risk for him also.
There are still the fleet captains,
but they are at sea.
Once they make landfall. Bring them before me.
Are you alright?
Barely.
I just came close to death.
Do you think Berenice is advising him?
Of course.
She knows my ire towards her and her people.
Killers of how many...
five thousand sons of Rome?
Why not have Tenax attend to her?
And incite a lover's vengeance in my brother?
Not all the Judeans are happy with the idea
of their Queen spreading her legs for your brother.
How would you know that?
I have ears at the construction site.
There are rumours
of meetings in secret,
where the possibility of a Spartacan revolt is being discussed.
One of their elders,
the architect Azariah,
has been heard to call her Titus' whore.
Well done.
See.
I am more
than an arse and a mouth.
We'll drive the wedge between them,
my brother...
and his whore.
Out!
I need to speak with my daughter.
Please.
Mother.
- I can not stay long. - I know, I know.
What do you know about the daughter, the priestess?
I've never heard of a daughter.
They have a son...
They often speak of him.
Julius.
Why?
And Drusilla?
Have you noticed any routines in her outings?
One time she went out at sundown with some pantry goods.
Good. Watch her and let me know.
Hm?
Jula!
Go now, go.
The charioteer, Scorpus, Consul.
Ah...
Scorpus. To what do I owe the honour of this visit?
I've decided that our partnership is too valuable to end.
Scorpus is willing,
for the right price,
yes,
to return triumphantly to the Blue Faction.
That's generous of you, Scorpus.
But what of Xenon? We've hired him in your stead
Xenon is...
you know, is a good driver. I admit, but he is...
no Scorpus.
He's more loyal than Scorpus.
Perhaps, I owe you an apology.
For?
- For, er... - Fucking his wife?
In a word, yes.
May I speak for the two of us, my love?
Of course, we speak as one.
Always.
We're paying Xenon three times what we paid you!
We wouldn't hire you back
even if you showed up with your mouth full of pearls
and an Indian ruby the size of a hen's egg
falling out of your arse.
Go fuck yourselves.
Fucking Romans!
I'd happily fuck my husband.
Anyone...
as long as it's not you.
Right this way.
You continue to amaze me.
Thank you.
I warned your father to forbid you from marrying that man.
Caltonia.
I'm so ashamed.
Does your family know?
Since my mother's death, my uncles have abandoned us.
Father has turned to wine, and...
our estates are gone.
All I had were those shares in the Blue faction.
I've spoken to my advocates.
Those shares were stolen by your husband.
You will leave this place.
Live under my roof. And together we will enter the courts
and get back what is yours.
You would do that for me?
I love you, child.
We will get them back.
And I will buy them from you at an exorbitant price.
And then you and I,
we will celebrate our...
our partnership.
Morning, Lentullus.
I need two chariots by the week's end.
That's impossible.
Nothing's impossible.
What about these?
Oh.
Well...
A year ago, I experimented with the lightest of woods...
and shaved the struts, made them as thin as my finger.
They were fast.
So fast.
But too light to get past the weight restrictions.
Can they be ready by the end of the week?
Yes. But you'll never get them past inspection.
Let that be my problem.
Oh, and the golden paint,
give it less shine, more tasteful.
Thank you all for coming.
We do this all together, just like you Romans... yes?
Much more efficient.
Yes, well it's no secret we'd all be fortunate to have you driving for us.
And it's no secret that you're expensive.
That goes without saying.
Yes, well
having lost Xenon, clearly, I'm interested.
- What do you need? - Simple.
If Scorpus is to hold his head high in the Circus,
he must be paid more than Xenon.
A million eight?
No, too rich for my blood.
I'm out.
Good luck to you all.
Come boys.
And I'm out too.
No, wait.
You can't leave me with one bidder.
I can win for you.
I don't want to win.
Of course, you do.
I can't afford to win!
I profit by being smart.
I cut my costs down
and let my competitors thank me with gold for helping them win.
Good luck.
So, here we are.
A million eight.
No, a million nine, because Xenon is being paid a million eight.
I don't see anyone else bidding here.
It will add to your dignitas...
to pay me more than Marsus is paying Xenon.
Yes well, I have sufficient dignitas, thank you Scorpus.
Six hundred thousand.
Such an opening offer...
hurts my feelings.
Not a opening offer.
It's my final one.
I am Scorpus.
Yes, and I'm paying.
Look, it if will soothe your...
feelings, we can always...
tell the world it was a million nine.
Good boy.
Scorpus?
Not now.
But you wanted to celebrate.
Make sure that he gets some attention.
He just signed with the Whites.
Oh dear.
I remember it being bigger.
And firmer.
We all get older, I suppose. No way around it.
Who let you in?
I met with the Aedile Ludi. Good news:
He'll soon be reinstating our Gold faction.
New rigs ordered,
the lightest the Circus has ever seen.
You'll be flying like the wind, my friend.
Soon...
is not now. I have just signed for the Whites.
You ungrateful bastard. I pulled you from the clutches of your mother's pimp
For that, I thank you.
You, whose first three wins were all from my fixes.
Yes, yes,
yes, yes... You did a lot but so did I.
You're right.
My temper overtook me.
Perhaps, we should go our separate ways.
Get some sleep.
You'll need it when you drive against my Spaniards.
They remind me of you...
you know when you were in your prime.
Especially that Andria.
Yeah, I see a day when your body is rotting in the spina
of the Circus and he's making all of Rome forget you ever existed.
Good luck with the Whites.
Then we are bringing in
fifty Brigantine midgets,
and pit them against an equal number of bull-hounds.
I mean, is there any finer way to honour
Titus Flavius' ascent?
Dwarfs versus dogs...
is that the best you can do?
No, I mean, have you seen the dogs?
Come, come. What else do you have?
Ludus Beastius has received an interesting number
of red-arsed monkeys,
they're all males...
and we could build an encasement,
a forest in the wild, fence not too high.
Because the females should not escape...
...the females shouldn't escape.
I thought they were all males.
I'm not talking about
monkey females, I am talking about human females.
Yes, because they would like to fuck everything that moves.
I don't think that's to my brother's taste.
Well,
just hear me out.
There is a grand finale.
An absolute, wonder of nature.
The Gigantic Ghost Lion.
White from head to tail,
paler than the clouds over Vesuvius.
This fierce beast will arise from Hades and devour them all.
You're a sick man, Passus.
Well...
But a white lion, interesting.
I wish to see it myself.
I must escape my own cage first.
Meet me at the Ludus Beastius at midnight... Go.
Go now!
Door.
I need to urinate.
Domitian.
I hope you didn't over promise. Where is it?
Over here.
How beautiful you are!
So very beautiful.
So very deadly.
I know exactly how I'll use you.
You'll be my brother...
...Titus Flavius.
Emperor of Rome.
Conqueror...
of Jerusalem.
I want this beast to be a symbol of our glorious Titus Flavianus.
A beast with an unquenchable thirst for blood.
Have your builders reconstruct a replica of Jerusalem, fit for the Circus.
We shall celebrate the sacking of that city!
Allow me to ask,
Who will the white lion attack?
Do you have to be so dim?
Who do you think lives in Jerusalem?
- Gauls? - Uhuh.
Judeans.
Big cats...
even one as fierce as this,
are terrified by the sight and sounds of the crowd.
Without training, it will freeze.
Would you like to spoil Domitian's vision,
would you like to excite his anger?
No.
Manilius...
My Greek boy has seen you betting at the Circus.
You think removing your military garb
is sufficient to hide what you do?
Your betting... your debts...
your skimming from the Praetorian payroll to pay those debts, has put you at risk.
Mortal risk. But never fear...
I have need of your service...
for which there will be a substantial reward.
There's a plot among Judeans to kill their queen, my brother's consort.
One of the architects, Azariah,
appears to be the leader of this plot.
I need you to arrest some rebellious Judeans.
What is the meaning of this?
Why are you doing this?
What do you want?
Why are we arrested?
I was told for sedition and plotting to kill your Queen.
What?
- Lies, both of them. - Doesn't matter to me.
Tomorrow you will die.
All of you...
killed by a lion.
This particular lion...
will likely not attack.
Unless somebody charges the beast.
That's where you come in.
And why... should I throw my life away,
for your convenience?
If you do, I'll ask Passus, the Master of Games,
to spare,
your women and children.
By the Gods.
I hate being held prisoner here.
Hail Emperor Titus.
I so wish I could see...
the venom the Roman people have for the Judeans, up close.
Go.
She's not our Queen!
Already a chink in Titus' armor.
Come back.
My brother never ceases to amaze me.
How can he allow Berenice to sit next to him?
How did he not see this coming?
- For the glory of Rome... - Come.
And to honour the conquest of Jerusalem!
What is this?
You said this pageant was to celebrate your accession to the throne.
As the city burns,
behold the barbaric Judeans,
...led by Berenice, the Judean queen.
And now...
the barbaric Judeans will face
the unparalleled might of Rome.
It is the very powerful
Titus Flavianus.
Now!
Open the gate!
For the sake of my God,
or your Gods, do something!
These are my people.
Do it!
End this!
End this now!
Do you think he's seen me?
Yes.
He has.
This time you've gone too far.
- Hear me out before killing me. - A justification for such effrontery?
Yes. Are you too afraid to hear it?
You must speak quickly... speak well!
Or this sword will pierce your heart.
I merely killed two birds with a single stone for you.
Those who died in the arena were plotting to kill your Queen
and supplant her.
I saved her life...
and let the mob vent their hatred for the Judeans.
I've heard nothing of such a plot.
That is your failing...
not mine.
I can provide witnesses and proof.
See witnesses they can be bought,
and proof it can be crafted.
Well, if you think that of me...
then use your sword.
If I needed to...
I would.
- Why do you provoke him so much? - I know.
I should have stayed away from that damn balcony.
But it was just too good of a show to miss!
I blame myself
for allowing you to talk me into joining you on the Imperial platform.
For what?
To watch a hideous travesty of myself being torn apart.
I didn't know the plan.
You are Emperor!
You should've known.
The gold of the Emperor's coffers spent on games you did not approve,
under your very nose.
I've been told those that were killed were...
plotting against you.
Told by whom?
Let me guess,
your viper brother?
He says that he has proof.
He says many things. But how many are true?
I can't let you leave.
If you have me dragged back, I'll take my own life.
No, you won't.
I beg you.
Please stay.
Let me protect you.
Let me prove that to you.
On one condition.
That you let me protect you.
They will never accept me as your consort.
The Romans hate foreign queens.
They'll have to learn to accept you.
Cleopatra...
Candace of Kush?
Boudica?
Were they accepted?
To be with a foreign queen only weakens you in their eyes.
To be strong...
you must do the opposite.
You must take a Roman wife.
Of a good and August family of wealth and power, of long standing.
Put me in the shadows.
It is best for you.
And what do you think is best for you?
I am a conquered Queen.
My place is in the shadows.
You're not as heartless as you pretend.
Don't be so sure.
The children look up to you.
That's because they're children.
They look up to anyone who'll give them a few scraps of food and an occasional coin,
I did.
How many languages do you speak?
Not enough.
You use them to great effect.
Really?
You disarm people...
get them to do what you want.
That's how you see it?
Good day.
- Which you owe to me. - To some degree.
And to that degree you will pay me and my daughter more.
- Will I? - Mm-mm.
Aura's salary up by half, and mine tripled.
You overreach.
Fine. We'll leave your rat-infested
insula and find work at another betting tavern.
I'll increase Aura's by a quarter, and double yours.
Keep bringing in the revenue like you did today for a month
and we'll talk again.
That's too long, one week.
- Two. - Agreed.
You'll do well in Rome.
I am not here for that.
It will take a lot more money to buy Jula's freedom.
And Kwame, a gladiator,
probably impossible.
I will find a way.
Please.
Please wait.
I have an entreaty.
As does every other person in Rome.
I beg of you. My children have been taken from me.
My... my son is a gladiator at the Ludus Magnus,
and my daughter she's a slave...
in the house of your parents.
I am told that you have it in your power to free
those condemned and those held as slaves.
No, not me.
But my matron.
Could you help me?
Would that my mother had had tears for her daughter, as you do for yours.
I will speak to my matron.
Return on the Ides,
I will give you an answer by then. Now go.
Quintus!
It's been a while.
Keep your hands where I can see them.
Or I'll sever your spine at the root.
Ursus?
The boy you left to burn.
It was me who suffered the consequences.
I thought you were dead.
Worse...
I was sold as a galley slave.
Endless years in hell!
Luckily, I was drafted into the Roman army...
and fought for them for years.
It was easy to find you.
After all your endless talk about going to Rome...
and working in the famous Circus Maximus.
You know the punishment for a slave killing his master
is crucifixion.
But that's too quick for you.
I'm not going to kill you.
I'll squeeze all the money out of you.
I'll take everything from you.
I won't let you get away with this!