Four hundred years after the last king was driven from the city, the Republic of Rome rules many nations, but cannot rule itself. The city is constantly roiled by conflict between the common people and the nobility. Power is shared, and order maintained by two soldiers, old friends Gnaeus Pompey Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar. Once, Pompey was acknowledged by all to be the greater man, but for the last eight years, while Pompey has kept the peace in Rome, Caesar has waged a war of conquest in Gaul, that has made him even more rich and popular. The balance of power is shifting, and the nobility have grown fearful - Though of noble blood himself, Caesar stands with the common people. A man like that, an aristocrat with soldiers, money and the love of the people... Might make himself king.
S1 E15Unfinished Business
[After a battle in which Pullo hit him and was clearly drunk, and is now being flogged] Legionary Titus Pullo is a hero of the XIII Legion, but look at him now! Justice knows every man's number. He has committed a terrible sacrilege, and he will pay for it with his life! As will any man here who breaks the law.
[Each soldier and officer looks slightly shaken by the flogging. Mark Anthony eats an apple, apparently enjoying it.]
Brawlers and drunkards will be flogged. Thieves will be strangled! Deserters will be crucified!
[Being released, the flogging over] Is that it? I was just beginning to enjoy myself.
What a dreadful noise plebs make when they're happy.
This is music. Wait until Caesar starts them howling for our blood; then you'll hear something dreadful!
Fortune pisses on me.
Forculus, if you be the right god for the business here, I call on you to help. If you would open this door, then I would kill for you a fine white lamb, or, failing that, if I couldn't get a good one at a decent price, then six pigeons.
The man has tears in his eyes. Tears!
He loves me.
A womanish husband is no use to anyone. And your servants! What a fuss! I think you feed them too much.
I have simpler tastes. I like to kill my enemies, take their gold and enjoy their women. That's it. Why tie yourself to one? Where's the flavor? Where's the joy?
Pullo, when is the last time you had a woman who wasn't crying or wanting payment?
Look here, Mars! Look here, Mars! I am Titus Pullo! These bloody men are my gift to you.
[on returning to Rome]] Here I come, girls! I'm gonna drink all the wine, smoke all the smoke, and fuck every whore in the city!
By the Five Furies, if I were not a genteel woman, I'd have you flayed and hung from a bracket at the door! Castor!
Yes, domina?
Fetch the dogs!
[Antony discussing terms with Pompey of Caesar's return to Rome]
He sits alone in Ravenna with one mutinous skeleton of a legion and he dares to dictate terms to me?!
Caesar has many more legions than the Thirteenth.
On the far side of the Alps.
Winter does not last forever. Spring comes. Snows melt.
That's a threat!
I assure you, it is no threat. Snows always melt.
Caesar is bluffing. He wishes to appear supremely confident. Evidently, he's desperately weak, weaker than we thought. This is a last-ditch attempt to frightening us into making concessions while he still has the semblance of an army. He's weak, Cicero, dying.
Is that not when all the proverbs tell us to be wary? Does not the dying serpent bite deepest?
[After Mark Anthony survives a presumed attempt on his life by Pompey's mob in Rome...]
After all these years... Pompey surprises me! I had hoped to provoke some kind of aggression, sure, but to try and kill a Tribune, in the forum... The man's found some hard black iron in his soul.
Sure it was yon demented little worm Cato who put him up to it. [On the wine] It's excellent, this... So, what next?
Let's see what the men have to say...
[Caesar heads off outside while Antony goes to wash himself up]
Don't do that! [Puts an arm on Mark's shoulder] You look fine exactly as you are. Like Leonidas at Thermopylae.
[Caesar's speech to the XIII Legion, preluding the civil war against Pompey]
Soldiers! Pompey, and the Senate, have formally declared that Gaius Julius Caesar is an enemy of Rome!
[The soldiers shout in denial]
They have declared that I am a criminal. They have declared, in the fact, that all of you, ALSO, are criminals!
[The soldiers roar in disapproval]
Tribune's veto was not exercised! People's Tribune, Mark Anthony, and fifty men of the XIII were assaulted by a thousand head of Pompeian scum.
[The soldiers boo again. From behind, Pullo watches it all.]
A Tribune, of the Plebs, assaulted on the steps of the Senate house! Can you imagine a more terrible sacrilege!? Our beloved Republic is in the hands of madmen! This is a dark day, and I stand in a fork in the road - I can abide the law and surrender my arms to the Senate, and watch the Republic fall to tyranny and chaos, or, I can go home, with my sword in my hand, and run those maniacs TO THE TARPEIAN ROCK!
[The soldiers roar, supporting Caesar.]
Legionary Titus Pullo, step forward! [Pullo is surprised to hear his name, but doesn't move] Titus Pullo!
[Pullo moves in the crowd, headed towards Caesar]
Of fifty brave men of the XIII, whom fought Pompey's Thousand in the forum, and saved the Tribune, it was Legionary Titus Pullo whom drew first blood! [Picks up a purse and raises it] Here's five hundred Denarii!
[Throws the purse to Pullo]
[Shocked] Very grateful, sir!
Are you with me, Titus Pullo? Will you come with me to Rome?
[Briefly stuttering] Yes- YES SIR! Certainly!
Titus Pullo is with me! AND YOU, ARE YOU WITH ME!?
[The whole Legion roars in approval]
What is going to happen?
War is going to happen.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Rome pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.