Gladiator

Juba:
Can they hear you?

Maximus:
Who?

Juba:
Your family. In the afterlife.

Maximus:
Oh yes.

Juba:
What do you say to them?

Maximus:
To my son - I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife... that is not your business.

Gracchus:
I don't pretend to be a man of the people. But I do try to be a man for the people.

Commodus:
You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues. Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. As I read the list I knew I had none of them. But i have other virtues, father. Ambition, that can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness. Courage. Perhaps not on the battlefield but there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family, to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then, it was as if you didn't want me for your son.

Marcus Aurelius:
Oh Commodus, you go too far.

Commodus:
I searched the faces of the gods for ways to please you, to make you proud. One kind word, one full hug while you pressed me to your chest and held me tight, would've been like the sun on my heart for a thousand years. What is in me that you hate so much?

Marcus Aurelius:
Shh, Commodus.

Commodus:
All I've ever wanted was to live up to you. Ceasar. Father.

Maximus:
Do you find it difficult to do your duty?

Cicero:
Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.

Commodus:
Your Emperor asks for your loyalty, Maximus. Take my hand, I only offer it once.

Gracchus:
He enters Rome like a conquering hero. But what has he conquered?

Falco:
Give him time, Gracchus. He's young, he may do very well.

Gracchus:
For Rome, Falco? Or for you?

Lucilla:
Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome.

Juba:
I will see you again... but not yet. Not yet!

Commodus:
The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?

Maximus:
You would fight me?

Commodus:
Why not? Do you think I am afraid?

Maximus:
I think you've been afraid all your life.

Lucilla:
I want to help you.

Maximus:
Yes, you can help me... Forget you ever knew me, and never come back here again.

Maximus:
I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."

Commodus:
I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?

Maximus:
You must know. He was your father.

Commodus:
You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? Smile for me now, brother.

Maximus:
At my signal, unleash hell.

Commodus:
He sleeps so well because he is loved.

Maximus:
What we do in life echoes in eternity.

Maximus:
I am required to kill, so I kill. That is enough.

Proximo:
That's enough for the provinces, but not enough for Rome.

Maximus:
My name is Gladiator

Lucius Verus:
I like you Spaniard, and I shall cheer for you.

Maximus:
They let you watch the games?

Lucius Verus:
My uncle says it makes me strong.

Maximus:
And what does your father say?

Lucius Verus:
My father's dead.

Lucius Verus:
I have to go.

Maximus:
Thy name is Lucius?

Lucius Verus:
Lucius Verus, after my father.

Quintus:
People should know when they are conquered.

Maximus:
Would you, Quintus? Would I?

Marcus Aurelius:
When was the last time you were home?

Maximus:
Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning.

Lucius Verus:
Are you the one they call the Spaniard?

Maximus:
Yes.

Lucius Verus:
They said you were a giant. They said you could crush a man's skull with one hand.

Maximus:
A man's? No. A boy's?

Maximus:
Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing.

Marcus Aurelius:
There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.

Maximus:
Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the Gods' desire for my future. Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air. Ancestors, I honor you and will try to live with the dignity that you have taught me.

Maximus:
I may die here in this cell or in the arena tomorrow. What possible difference can I make?

Gracchus:
He will bring them death, and they will love him for it.

Commodus:
And now they love Maximus for his mercy. So I can't just kill him, or it makes me even more unmerciful! The whole thing's like some crazed nightmare.

Falco:
He is defying you. His every victory is an act of defiance. The mob sees this, and so does the senate. Every day he lives, they grow bolder. Kill him.

Commodus:
No. I will not make a martyr of him.

Falco:
I have been told of a certain sea snake which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey. It will lie at the bottom of the ocean as if wounded. Then its enemies will approach, and yet it will lie quite still. And then its enemies will take little bites of it, and yet it remains still.

Commodus:
So, we will lie still, and let our enemies come to us and nibble. Have every senator followed.

Commodus:
Have I missed it? Have I missed the battle?

Marcus Aurelius:
You have missed the war.

Commodus:
Father, congratulations. I shall sacrifice a hundred bulls to honor your triumph.

Marcus Aurelius:
Save the bulls. Honor Maximus. He won the battle.

Gracchus:
Fear and wonder, a powerful combination.

Falco:
You really think people are going to be seduced by that?

Gracchus:
I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it's the sand of the coliseum. He'll bring them death - and they will love him for it.

Gracchus:
But the Senate IS the people, sire. Chosen from AMONG the people. To speak FOR the people.

Commodus:
I doubt if any of the people eat so well as you, Gracchus. Or have such splendid mistresses, Gaius.

Maximus:
Strength and honor.

Commodus:
It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.

Maximus:
Patres!

Maximus:
Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!

Maximus:
Brothers, what we do in life... echoes in eternity.

Tigris:
We who are about to die, salute you!

Proximo:
Those giraffes you sold me, they won't mate. They just walk around, eating, and not mating. You sold me... queer giraffes. I want my money back.

Proximo:
Listen to me. Learn from me. I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.

Maximus:
You risk too much.

Lucilla:
I have much to pay for.

Maximus:
You have nothing to pay for.

Marcus Aurelius:
Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a good father.

Lucilla:
This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?

Maximus:
Are you in danger of becoming a good man, Proximo?

Proximo:
Ha!

Lucilla:
My brother hates all the world and you most of all.

Maximus:
Because your father chose me.

Lucilla:
No. Because my father loved you. And because I loved you.

Proximo:
Can any of them fight? I've got a match coming up.

Slave Trader:
Some are good for fighting, others for dying. You need both, I think.

Proximo:
Some of you are thinking that you won't fight. Others, that you can't fight. They all say that.

Proximo:
In the end, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how, or when. But what we can choose is how we decide to meet that end, so we are remembered forever as men.

Commodus:
I think I understand my own people.

Gracchus:
Then perhaps Caeser will be so good as to teach us, out of his own extensive experience?

Commodus:
I call it love, Gracchus. The people are my children, I am their father. I shall hold them to my bosom and embrace them tightly...

Gracchus:
Have you ever embraced someone dying of plague, sire?

Commodus:
No, but if you interrupt me again, I assure you that you will.

Juba:
I didn't know men could build such things.

Lucilla:
Is Rome worth one good man's life? We believed it once. Make us believe it again. He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him.

Lucilla:
Is Rome worth one good man's life? We believed it once. Make us believe it again. He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him.

Gracchus:
Who will help me carry him?

Maximus' Son:
Papa, Papa!

Maximus' Son:
Mama, Isudosci!

Proximo:
He knows to well how to manipulate the mob.

Maximus:
Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome Proximo. That is not it. That is not it!

Proximo:
Marcus Aurelius is dead Maximus. We mortals are but shadows and dust. Shadows and dust Maximus!

Gracchus:
The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate. It is the sand of the Colosseum.

Marcus Aurelius:
You have proven your valor once again, Maximus. Let us hope for the last time.

Maximus:
There is no one left to fight, sire.

Marcus Aurelius:
There is always someone left to fight. How can I reward Rome's greatest general?

Maximus:
Let me go home.

Marcus Aurelius:
Ah, home.

Marcus Aurelius:
Won't you accept this great honor that I have offered you?

Maximus:
With all my heart, no.

Marcus Aurelius:
Maximus, that is why it must be you.

Juba:
You have a great name. He must kill your name before he kills you.

Maximus:
Quintus! Release my men. Senator Gracchus is to be reinstated. There was a dream that was Rome. It shall be realized. These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.

Proximo:
So Spaniard, we shall go to Rome together and have bloody adventures. And the great whore will suckle us until we are fat and happy and can suckle no more. And then, when enough men have died, perhaps you will have your freedom.

Commodus:
You and I are not much different. You take life when you have to, as I do.

Maximus:
I have only one more life to take. Then it is done.

Commodus:
If you're very good, tomorrow night I'll tell you the story of emperor Claudius who was betrayed by those closest to him, by his own blood. They whispered in dark corners and went out late at night and conspired and conspired but the emperor Claudius knew they were up to something. He knew they were busy little bees. And one night he sat down with one of them and he looked at her and he said, "Tell me what you've been doing busy little bee or I shall strike down those dearest to you. You shall watch as I bathe in their blood." And the emperor was heartbroken. The little bee had wounded him more deeply than anyone else could ever have done. And what do you think happened then, Lucius?

Lucius Verus:
I don't know, uncle.

Commodus:
The little bee told him everything.

Gracchus:
The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it's the sand of the Colosseum. He'll bring them death and they will love him for it.

Maximus:
Quintus! Release my men. There was a dream that was Rome. It shall be realized. These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.

Lucilla:
Please be quiet, brother! Your constant scheming gives me even more of a headache!

Lucilla:
What did my father want with you?

Maximus:
To wish me well before I leave for home.

Lucilla:
You're lying, I could always tell when you were lying because you were never any good at it.

Maximus:
I never acquired your comfort with it.

Lucilla:
True, but then you never had to, life is more simple for a soldier. Or do you think me heartless?

Maximus:
I think you have a talent for survival.

Quintus:
Maximus, please be careful, that wasn't prudent.

Maximus:
Prudent? The Emperor has been slain.

Maximus:
Roma Ignis

Juba:
And now we are Free.

Commodus:
What am I going to do with you? You simply won't... die. Are we so different, you and I? You take life when you have to... as I do.

Maximus:
I have only one more life to take. Then it is done.

Commodus:
Then take it now.

Commodus:
They tell me your son...

Commodus:
...squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross. And your wife... moaned like a whore when they ravaged her again and again... and again.

Maximus:
The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.

Maximus:
Highness.

Gracchus:
And after you glorious coup, what then? You take you five thousand and... leave?

Maximus:
Yes I will leave. The soldiers will stay here for your protection, under the guidance of the Senate.

Gracchus:
So, after Rome's all yours you just give it back to the people. Tell me why.

Maximus:
Because that was a dying man's last wish. I will kill Commodus. The fate of Rome, I leave to you.

Gracchus:
Marcus Aurelius trusted you. His daughter trusts you. I will trust you. Give me two days, and I will purchase your freedom. And you, stay alive, while I'll be dead.

Marcus Aurelius:
Tell me again, Maximus, why are we here?

Maximus:
For the glory of the Empire, sire.

Quintus:
Soldier! I told you to move those catapaults foreward. They're out of range.

Maximus:
Range is good.

Quintus:
A danger to the cavalry...

Maximus:
Is acceptable. Agreed?

Maximus:
Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so.

Maximus:
Quintus, look at me. Look at me! Promise me that you'll look after my family.

Quintus:
Your family will meet you in the afterlife.

Lucilla:
This man wants what you want.

Maximus:
Then have *him* kill Commodus!

Proximo:
I know that you are a man of your word, General. I know that you would die for honor, for Rome, for the memory of your ancestors. But as for me? I'm an entertainer.

Maximus:

I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."

Commodus:

I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?

Maximus:

You must know. He was your father.

Commodus:

You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? Smile for me now, brother.

Maximus:
You sent for me, Caesar?

Marcus Aurelius:
Tell me again, Maximus, why are we here?

Maximus:
For the glory of the empire, sire.

Marcus Aurelius:
Ah, yes. Ah, yes, I remember. Do you see that map, Maximus? That is the world which I created. For 25 years, I have conquered, spilt blood, expanded the empire. Since I became Caesar, I have known four years without war, four years of peace in twenty. And for what? I brought the sword. Nothing more.

Maximus:
Caesar, your life...

Marcus Aurelius:
Please. Please, don't call me that. Please, come sit. Let us talk together now, very simply, as men. Maximus, talk.

Maximus:
Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe that they fought and died for nothing.

Marcus Aurelius:
And what would you believe?

Maximus:
They fought for you and for Rome.

Marcus Aurelius:
And what is Rome, Maximus?

Maximus:
I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

Marcus Aurelius:
Yet you have never been there. You have not seen what it has become. I am dying, Maximus. When a man sees his end... he wants to know there was some purpose to his life. How will the world speak my name in years to come? Will I be known as the philosopher? The warrior? The tyrant...? Or will I be the emperor who gave Rome back her true self? There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter. Maximus, let us whisper now, together, you and I. You have a son. Tell me about your home.

Maximus:
My house is in the hills above Trujillo. A very simple place. Pinkstones that warm in the sun. A kitchen garden that smells of herbs in the day, jasmine in the evening. Through the gate is a giant poplar. Figs, apples, pears. The soil, Marcus- black. Black like my wife's hair. Grapes on the south slopes, olives on the north. Wild ponies play near my house. They tease my son. He wants to be one of them.

Marcus Aurelius:
Remember the last time you were home?

Maximus:
Two years, 264 days, and this morning.

Marcus Aurelius:
I envy you, Maximus. It's a good home. Worth fighting for. There is one more duty that I ask of you before you go home.

Maximus:
What would you have me do, Caesar?

Marcus Aurelius:
I want you to become the protector of Rome after I die. I will empower you to one end alone: To give power back to the people of Rome, and end the corruption that has crippled it. Will you accept this great honor I have offered you?

Maximus:
With all my heart, no.

Marcus Aurelius:
Maximus, that is why it must be you.

Maximus:
But surely a prefect, a senator, somebody who knows the city, who understands her politics?

Marcus Aurelius:
But you have not been corrupted by her politics.

Maximus:
And Commodus?

Marcus Aurelius:
Commodus is not a moral man. You have known that since you were young. Commodus cannot rule. He must not rule. You are the son that I should have had. Commodus will accept my decision. He knows that you command the loyalty of the army.

Maximus:
I need some time, sire.

Marcus Aurelius:
Yes. By sunset, I hope you will have agreed. Now embrace me as my son, and bring an old man another blanket.

Marcus Aurelius:
Are you ready to do your duty for Rome?

Commodus:
Yes, father.

Marcus Aurelius:
You will not be emperor.

Commodus:
Which wiser, older man is to take my place?

Marcus Aurelius:
My powers will pass to Maximus, to hold in trust until the Senate is ready to rule once more. Rome is to be a republic again.

Commodus:
Maximus.

Marcus Aurelius:
My decision disappoints you?

Commodus:
You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues: wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance. As I read the list, I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, father. Ambition. That can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness. Courage. Perhaps not on the battlefield, but … there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family and to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. [choking up] Even then it was as if you didn't want me for your son.

Marcus Aurelius:
Oh, Commodus. You go too far.

Commodus:
I search the faces of the gods … for ways to please you, to make you proud. One kind word, one full hug … where you pressed me to your chest and held me tight … would have been like the sun on my heart for a thousand years. What is it in me that you hate so much?

Marcus Aurelius:
Shh, Commodus.

Commodus:
All I've ever wanted was to live up to you, Caesar, father.

Marcus Aurelius:
[gets down on his knees] Commodus, your faults as a son is my failure as a father. Come.

[They hug]

Commodus:
[crying] Father. I would have butchered the whole world … if you would only love me! [presses Marcus against his breast and asphyxiates him]

Gracchus:
For you guidance, Caesar, the Senate has prepared a series of protocols, to begin addressing the many problems in the city, beginning with basic sanitation for the Greek quarter, to combat the plague which is already springing up there. So, if Caesar...

Commodus:
Shh. Don't you see, Gracchus? That's the very problem, isn't it? My father spent all his time at study, at books and learning and philosophy. He spent his twilight hours reading scrolls from the Senate. And all the while, the people were forgotten.

Gracchus:
But the Senate is the people, sire. Chosen from among the people, to speak for the people.

Commodus:
I doubt if any of the people eat so well as you do, Gracchus. Or have such splendid mistresses, Gaius. I think I understand my own people.

Gracchus:
Then perhaps Caesar will be so good as to teach us … out of his own, extensive experience.

[The Senate laughs]

Commodus:
I call it love. I am their father, the people are my children. I shall hold them to my bosom and embrace them tightly –

Gracchus:
Have you ever embraced someone dying of plague, sire?

Commodus:
No. But if you interrupt me again, I assure you that you shall.

Maximus:
You ask me what I want. I, too, want to stand before the Emperor as you did.

Proximo:
Then listen to me. Learn from me. I wasn't the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd, and you will win your freedom.

Maximus:
I will win the crowd. I will give them something they have never seen before.

Juba:
It's somewhere out there. My country. My home. My wife is preparing food. My daughters carry water from the river. Will I ever see them again? I think not.

Maximus:
Do you believe you'll see them again when you die?

Juba:
I think so. But then, I will die soon. They will not die for many years. I'll have to wait.

Maximus:
But you would … wait?

Juba:
Of course.

Maximus:
You see, my wife and my son are already waiting for me.

Juba:
You'll meet them again. But not yet. Not yet.

[They shake hands]

Maximus:
Not yet. … Not yet.

Commodus:
"Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!" They call for you. The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! Now the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?

Maximus:
You would fight me?

Commodus:
Why not? Do you think I am afraid?

Maximus:
I think you've been afraid all your life.

Commodus:
Unlike Maximus the invincible, who knows no fear?

Maximus:
I knew a man once who said, 'Death smiles at us all. All that man can do is smile back.'

Commodus:
I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?

Maximus:
You must know. He was your father.

Commodus:
You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? Smile for me now, brother! [stabs Maximus in the side, then turns to Quintius] Strap on his armour. Conceal the wound.

Maximus (to the audience in the arena):
Are you not entertained?

Maximus:
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Maximus:
[addressing crowd after killing gladiator in solo fight] Are you not entertained? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?! Is this not why you are here?! [throws away sword and spits at the ground, then leaves]

Proximo:
I am Proximo! I will be closer to you in these next few days, which will be the last days of your miserable lives, than that b*tch of a mother who first brought you screaming into this world! I did not pay good money for your company, I paid it so I could profit from your deaths! And just as your mother was there at your beginning, so I shall be there at your end. And when you die — and die you shall — your transition will be to the sound of … [claps his hands] Gladiators, I salute you.

Proximo, are you in danger of becoming a good person?

You sent for me Caesar?