Spartacus Page #9

For you and me

there can be no farewells.

As long as one of us lives...

we all live.

I felt it! Did you feel it?

- Yes, I did.

- That was so strong. Does it hurt you?

That was so strong.

Lucullus and Pompey.

Have we a count of prisoners?

We haven't made

the fiinal count, sir.

I bring a message

from your master...

Marcus Licinius Crassus...

commander of ltaly.

By command of

His Most Merciful Excellency...

your lives are to be spared.

Slaves you were...

and slaves you remain.

But the terrible penalty

of crucifiixion...

has been set aside...

on the single condition

that you identify the body...

or the living person

of the slave called Spartacus.

- I'm Spartacus!

- I'm Spartacus!

Forgive me for being one of the last

to congratulate you, Your Nobility.

There's an ugly rumour

going round the camp...

that the prisoners

are to be crucifiied.

That is true.

Perhaps this is the moment

to remind Your Highness...

that yesterday you promised me I could

be the agent in their auctioning.

Last night you promised

Spartacus to me! Where is he?

In return, I promised you

the sale of the survivors...

and there will be none!

- It's Varinia.

- Yes, I remember.

You're the woman of Spartacus?

I'm his wife.

And this is his child?

Yes.

Where is Spartacus?

Dead.

Did you see him killed?

Yes.

You're lying. Where is he?

At least here is someone

worth selling, Your Enormity.

I'll even take the child

as an investment.

- How many women have been taken?

- Under forty, sir.

Most of those who weren't killed have

run to the hills with their children.

You may sell all the others,

but not this woman.

But you haven't seen

the others, Your Magnitude.

They're of surpassing ugliness!

A genius wouldn't be able to sell them!

Flog that scoundrel out of camp.

This woman and her child

are to be conveyed to my house in Rome.

- Halt them!

- Halt!

Antoninus?

Tribune!

Slaves are to be crucifiied

along the roadside...

the whole distance between here

and the gates of Rome.

Hold this man till the end.

And that man too.

- March on.

- March on!

I've more stripes on my back

than a zebra!

Every time I touch my wounds...

they sing like larks.

But in spite of that,

I think I've found something...

- I never had before with all my wealth.

- What is that?

Don't laugh at me,

but I believe it to be dignity.

In Rome,

dignity shortens life...

even more surely than disease.

The gods must be saving you

for some great enterprise.

You think so?

Anyone who believes I'll turn informer

for nothing is a fool.

I bore the whip

without complaint.

Yes, indeed, that sounds

like a bad attack of dignity.

I hope, however,

this will not deflect you...

from the revenge

you were going to take on Crassus.

No, on the contrary.

It only strengthens my resolve.

I'm glad to learn that.

This woman Varinia is in his house.

All Rome knows about it.

Malicious tongues even say...

that he's in love

for the fiirst time in his life.

I noticed a strange look in his eye

when he fiirst saw her.

It would take a great woman...

to make Crassus

fall out of love with himself.

I'll be honest with you,

Gracchus.

She's not as unattractive

as I told you she was.

Dignity and honesty in one afternoon!

I hardly recognize you.

- But she is an impossible woman.

- Beautiful?

Beautiful? Well, beautiful.

The more chains you put on her,

the less like a slave she looks.

- Proud?

- Proud, proud.

You'd feel that she would surrender

to the right man...

which is irritating.

I like Crassus.

Let's save him from his agony.

Let's steal this woman.

Steal the woman? Why?

I can no longer hurt Crassus

in the senate...

but I can hurt him where

he'll feel it most: in his pride.

Attack our enemy from within.

The scheme is excellent...

but I hope you're not suggesting

that I steal the woman!

Yes.

Buy some horses

and a cart with a canopy.

Bring her here by nightfall.

Add courage

to your newfound virtues.

Would half a million sesterces

make you brave?

Half a million?

Crassus does seem to dwindle

in the mind, but--

Let's reduce him still further.

A round million!

A million.

For such a sum,

I could bribe Jupiter himself!

With a lesser sum, I have.

Forgive the intrusion.

You know I'm not in the habit

of coming into your house uninvited.

You've always been welcome here...

as a pupil.

- You're not alone.

- No.

This time you've come to teach.

You've joined Crassus?

- Am I arrested?

- No.

But I must ask you to come with me

to the senate immediately.

What I do,

I do not for myself...

but for Rome.

Poor helpless Rome!

Let's go and hear more

about Rome from Crassus!

Did you truly believe

could so easily be delivered

into the clutches of a mob?

Already the bodies

of 6,000 crucifiied slaves...

Iine the Appian Way.

Tomorrow the last of their companions

will fiight to the death...

in the temple of my fathers

as a sacrifiice to them.

As those slaves have died,

so will your rabble...

if they falter one instant

in loyalty to the new order of affairs.

The enemies of the state

are known.

Arrests are in progress.

The prisons begin to fiill.

In every city and province, lists

of the disloyal have been compiled.

Tomorrow they will learn

the cost of their terrible folly...

their treason.

Where does my name appear...

on the list of disloyal enemies

of the state?

First.

Yet upon you I have

no desire for vengeance.

Your property

shall not be touched.

You will retain the rank

and title of Roman senator.

A house...

a farmhouse in Picenum

has been provided for your exile.

You may take your women

with you.

Why am I to be left

so conspicuously alive?

Your followers are

deluded enough to trust you.

I intend that you shall speak to them

tomorrow for their own good...

their peaceful

and profiitable future.

From time to time thereafter,

I may fiind it useful...

to bring you back to Rome

to continue your duty to her...

to calm the envious spirit...

and the troubled mind.

You will persuade them

to accept destiny and order...

and trust the gods!

You may go.

Halt!

Now, why hide

behind that stola?

That's better.

That dress took some weeks

of a woman's life.

You, above all people, should respect

the work of slaves and wear it proudly.

Come here.

This belonged to a queen...

the queen of Persia.

It's heavy.

In time you will wear it

lightly enough.

Sit down.

Will you have

some squab and honey?

No.

You'll enjoy it.

And a piece of melon?

And some wine, of course.

Eat.

I did not command you to eat.

I invited you.

You fiind the richness

of your surroundings...

makes conversation diffiicult?

Why am I here?

Good question.

A woman's question.

I wish the answer could be

as good and straightforward.

- The infant-- it thrives?

- He thrives.

I purchased a wet nurse

for him yesterday.

I hope milk agrees with him.

I sent her away.

I prefer to nurse

the child myself.

I'm not sure I approve.

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