Spartacus Page #2

One, two, three, four.

We have visitors.

Tremendous visitors!

Two simply enormous Roman lords

on the hill.

How easily impressed

you are, Ramon.

Just 'cause they're Romans,

I suppose they're enormous.

Tell them to wait for me

when they arrive.

-Master, you don't understand!

-How enormous do these Roman lords get?

One of them is

Marcus Licinius Crassus.

What? Wait a minute.

Crassus here? Varinia,

my red toga with the acorns.

And some chairs in the atrium.

Second-best wine.

No, the best,

but small goblets.

Gracchus! You know

how Crassus loathes him.

Take him away.

- I can't lift it.

- Use your imagination! Cover him.

Tell Marcellus

to get the men ready.

Crassus has expensive taste.

He'll want a show of some sort.

Forgive me, Gracchus.

Marcus Licinius Crassus...

most noble radiance...

fiirst general of the Republic...

father and defender of Rome...

honour my house.

Bless it with your presence.

Wine! Sweetmeats! Can't you see

that Their Honours are exhausted?

Have the goodness to sit.

Is anything wrong,

Your Nobility?

No.

Welcome

to the Lady Claudia Maria...

former wife

of Lucius Caius Marius...

whose recent execution

touched us all so deeply.

Honour to the Lady Helena...

daughter of the late

Septimus Optimus Glabrus...

whose fame shall live on forever

in the person of his son...

your brother,

Marcus Publius Glabrus...

hero of the Eastern Wars.

How very much he knows.

Allow me to bring you

up to date.

We're here to celebrate the marriage

of my brother to the Lady Claudia.

A mating of eagles,

Your Sanctity!

Fan His Magnitude.

He sweats.

My young friends desire

a private showing of two pairs.

Two pairs. Oh, yes.

I think I have something

that would please them.

- Two pairs to the death.

- To the death, Your Ladyship?

Surely you don't think we came

all the way to Capua for gymnastics?

But I beg Your Honours.

Here in Capua we train

the fiinest gladiators in all ltaly.

We can give you a display

of swordsmanship...

which is better than anything

you can see in Rome at any cost.

When they're sold, their new masters

may do with them as they wish...

but here, no, we never fiight them

to the death.

Crassus.

Today is an exception.

But the ill feeling it would spread

through the whole school.

And then the cost. The cost!

Name your price.

Arrange it.

Are you serious, sir?

Arrange it immediately.

Of course, we shall want

to choose them ourselves.

You do have a certain variety,

don't you?

Yes. Inexhaustible.

Spartacus, there's going to be

a fiight to the death.

- To the death?

- How do you know?

I heard Marcellus

tell one of his guards.

- Who fiights?

- I don't know.

To the death.

What if they matched

you and me?

They won't.

What if they did?

Would you fiight?

I'd have to. So would you.

Would you try to kill me?

Yes, I'd kill.

I'd try to save--

I'd try to stay alive

and so would you.

All gladiators

up to the training area.

Some visitors

want to admire you.

Form a line

right here in front of me.

Would Your Excellencies care

to make your selection now?

Claudia.

They're magnifiicent.

For you, Lady Helena...

may I suggest Praxus?

A veritable tiger.

I don't like him.

- I prefer that one.

- Which one?

David?

Crixus, yes.

Marcellus, Crixus

for the short sword.

Have you ever seen such a pair

of shoulders? Dionysius!

I admit he's small, but he's very

compact and extremely strong.

In fact, he looks--

He looks smaller here

than he does in the actual arena.

Optical.

- Give me that one.

- Galino.

Yes, yes. Galino.

You have a shrewd eye, Your Pulchritude,

if I may permit myself the--

Practically every man in this school

is an expert with a Thracian sword...

but the trident is something

very rare these days.

May I suggest...

the Ethiopian?

There are very few Ethiopians

in the country.

Ethiopians are recognized

as masters of the trident.

I'll take him.

Draba? Oh, no.

For you I want only the best--

I want the most beautiful.

I'll take the big black one.

Very good.

Only one man

in the entire school...

stands a chance with the Thracian knife

against the trident.

There.

- Over there, Lady Helena.

- He's impertinent!

- I'll take him.

- Impertinent, and a coward to boot.

Have him flogged!

Over there, Lady Helena.

The beast of Libya.

I prefer the coward.

If both men are down

and refuse to continue to fiight...

your trainer will slit their throats

like chickens.

- We want no tricks.

- Tricks? At the school of Batiatus?

You heard the instruction, Marcellus?

Remember it.

I feel so sorry for the poor things

in all this heat.

Don't put them

in those suffocating tunics.

Let them wear just enough

for modesty.

Whatever they wear, Lady,

they'll bless your name.

Back, the rest of you!

- Our choosing has bored you?

- No.

Most exciting. I tingle.

Do let's get out of the sun.

May I conduct Your Magnifiicences

to the gallery now?

An eavesdropper.

Oh, the god!

How far from Rome must I go

to avoid that cunning face?

Crassus, don't talk about Gracchus.

He's so hateful.

For Gracchus, hatred of the patrician

class is a profession...

and not such a bad one, either.

How else can one become

master of the mob...

and fiirst senator of Rome?

Crassus, it's so boring.

I believe that girl smells

of perfume.

Whatever it is,

she smells most delectable.

You can't keep slaves from stealing

these days unless you chain them.

When a slave's as pretty as she is,

she doesn't have to steal.

An arrangement is made.

If her ankles are good...

you could be sure

an arrangement was made!

- Master!

- Good heavens, a catastrophe!

- I've been anointed!

- You trollop!

- I believe you did that on purpose.

- It was an accident. Come here, girl.

Don't be frightened.

- What country are you from?

- Britannia.

How long have you been

a slave?

Since I was thirteen.

You have a certain education.

My fiirst master had me tutored

for his children.

I like her. She has spirit.

- I'll buy her.

- Buy her, Your Magnifiicence?

I have spent

quite a lot of money on her.

Yes, I've no doubt of it.

Two thousand sesterces.

Two thou--

She'll be waiting at your litter.

No, I don't want her feet

spoilt by walking.

Send her to Rome with your steward

the next time he has to go there.

He leaves tomorrow

and the girl with him.

More wine.

And thank your gods!

You provoke me, Crassus.

I shan't be nice to you any more!

- Why distress me so much?

- You're horribly rich.

Yet you're the only one

of my brother's friends...

who hasn't given him

a wedding present.

I was saving it

for a more suitable moment.

Here. Give it to him, child.

What is it?

As from this moment, your husband

is commander of the garrison of Rome.

Wonderful!

I don't know how I shall

ever be able to repay you.

Time will solve that mystery.

- The garrison of Rome.

- Yes.

The only power in Rome strong enough

to checkmate Gracchus and his senate.

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