Spartacus Page #4

if I ever got out of this place...

I'd die before I'd watch

two men fiight to the death again.

Draba made that promise too.

He kept it.

So will l.

Go on. Get out!

What are we, Crixus?

What are we becoming?

Romans?

Have we learned nothing?

What's happening to us?

We look for wine

when we should be hunting bread.

When you've got wine,

you don't need bread!

You can't just be a gang

of drunken raiders.

- What else can we be?

- Gladiators!

An army of gladiators.

There's never been

an army like that.

One gladiator's worth

any two Roman soldiers that ever lived.

We beat the Roman guards,

but a Roman army's a different thing.

They fiight different

than we do too.

We can beat anything they send

against us if we really want to.

- It takes a big army for that.

- We'll have a big army.

Once we're on the march...

we'll free every slave

in every town and village.

Can anybody get

a bigger army than that?

Once we cross the Alps,

we're safe!

Nobody can cross the Alps. Every pass

is defended by its own legion.

There's only one way

to get out of this country.

The sea.

What good is the sea

if you have no ships?

The Cilician pirates have ships.

They're at war with Rome.

Every Roman galley that sails

out of Brundusium pays tribute to them.

They've got the biggest fleet

in the world.

I was a galley slave with them. They'll

take you anywhere for enough gold.

We haven't got enough gold.

Take every Roman we capture

and warm his back a little.

- We'll have gold, all right.

- Spartacus is right!

Let's hire these pirates

and march straight to Brundusium!

Come join us.

All of you, come join us.

Come on and join us!

Back to Vesuvius!

Varinia.

I thought

I'd never see you again.

Everything's so different.

The last time I saw you...

you were waiting

in the arena to--

I thought

you were in Rome.

How'd you escape?

I jumped out of the cart...

and Batiatus was so fat--

I flew out of the cart...

and Batiatus was so fat...

that he couldn't catch me.

He couldn't catch up with me.

Do you realize...

nobody can ever sell you again?

Nobody can sell you.

- Or give you away.

- Or give you away.

Nobody can ever make you

stay with anybody.

Nobody can make you

stay with anybody.

I love you, Spartacus.

I love you.

I still can't believe it.

Forbid me ever to leave you.

I do forbid you.

I forbid you.

It was funny at the time.

I wish he'd heard it.

How good you are to me,

if I may say so.

- You may.

- Thank you.

Don't just eye those birds.

Eat them.

There's no need to be

on your best behaviour here.

May I remind you...

you've been very good to me

in the past?

I've been good to you?

Yes. You've sold me slaves

at an extremely reasonable price.

And you arranged private gladiatorial

jousts at cost, or practically.

On the whole, you are both

ethical in business matters...

and certainly farsighted socially.

Zenobia's put on a little weight

since I last saw her.

- Yes, hasn't she? I like it.

- So do l.

You and I have a tendency

towards corpulence.

Corpulence makes a man reasonable,

pleasant and phlegmatic.

Have you noticed the nastiest

of tyrants are invariably thin?

In spite of your vices, you are

the most generous Roman of our time.

Vices?

The ladies.

Ladies!

Since when are they a vice?

Perhaps I used the wrong word.

An eccentricity, a foible.

I hope I pronounced that word--

It's well-known that even your groom

and your butler are women.

I'm the most virtuous man in Rome.

I keep these women

out of my respect for Roman morality.

That morality, which has made

Rome strong enough to steal...

two-thirds of the world

from its rightful owners...

founded on the sanctity

of Roman marriage and family.

I happen to like women.

I have a promiscuous nature...

and, unlike these aristocrats,

I will not take a marriage vow...

which I know my nature

will prevent me from keeping.

You have too great a respect

for the purity of womankind.

Exactly.

It must be tantalizing

to be surrounded by so much purity.

It is.

Now, let's mix business with pleasure.

How may I help you?

Great Gracchus,

I fiind it diffiicult to hate...

but there's one man I can't think of

without fuming.

- Who's that?

- Crassus.

- You've grown ambitious in your hatred.

- Do you blame me?

There I was, better than

a millionaire in the morning...

and a penniless refugee

by nightfall...

with nothing but these rags

and my poor flesh to call my own.

All because Crassus decides

to break his journey at Capua...

with a couple of capricious,

over-painted nymphs!

These two daughters of Venus

had to taunt the gladiators...

force them to fiight to the death,

and before I knew what had happened...

revolution on my hands!

What revenge have you in mind?

I sold Crassus this woman,

Varinia.

- Whom?

- Varinia. May the gods give her wings.

There was no contract,

but she was clearly his slave...

as soon as

the deal was made.

Now she's off with Spartacus

killing people in their beds.

And Crassus--

no mention of money, no!

You never offered me

this woman. Why not?

Well, she's not remotely

your type, Gracchus.

- She is very thin and--

- Look around you.

You'll see women of all sizes.

Five hundred sesterces

deposit on Varinia.

Since he hasn't paid,

this gives me fiirst call over Crassus...

when she's caught and auctioned.

May the gods adore you!

Why would you buy a woman

you've never even seen?

To annoy Crassus, of course,

and to help you.

Fetch a stool, Antoninus.

In here with it.

That will do.

Do you steal, Antoninus?

No, master.

Do you lie?

Not if I can avoid it.

Have you ever

dishonoured the gods?

No, master.

Do you refrain from these vices

out of respect for the moral virtues?

Yes, master.

Do you eat oysters?

When I have them, master.

Do you eat snails?

No, master.

Do you consider the eating

of oysters to be moral...

and the eating of snails

to be immoral?

No, master.

Of course not.

It is all a matter

of taste, isn't it?

Yes, master.

And taste is not

the same as appetite...

and therefore not a question

of morals, is it?

It could be argued so, master.

That will do.

My robe, Antoninus.

My taste includes...

both snails and oysters.

Antoninus, look.

Across the river.

There is something

you must see.

There, boy, is Rome!

The might, the majesty...

the terror of Rome.

There is the power that bestrides

the known world like a colossus.

No man can withstand Rome.

No nation can withstand her.

How much less...

a boy!

There's only one way to deal

with Rome, Antoninus.

You must serve her.

You must abase yourself

before her.

You must grovel at her feet.

You must...

Iove her.

Isn't that so, Antoninus?

- Take your time!

- How are they coming?

Good. Give me another thousand like them

and we can march on Rome.

Come on, once again.

Here on Vesuvius,

we're safe from attack...

while we organize ourselves

into an army.

It may take six months.

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