Spartacus

Spartacus:
And maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else, I don't know. But I do know that, as long as we live, we must remain true to ourselves.

Batiatus:
A good body with a dull brain is as cheap as life itself.

Gracchus:
This republic of ours is something like a rich widow. Most Romans love her as their mother but Crassus dreams of marrying the old girl to put it politely.

Spartacus:
What's your name?

Draba:
You don't want to know my name. I don't want to know your name.

Spartacus:
Just a friendly question.

Draba:
Gladiators don't make friends. If we're ever matched in the arena together, I have to kill you.

Gracchus:
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?

Batiatus:
Come with us. See to it I don't misuse the money.

Gracchus:
Don't be ridiculous. I'm a Senator.

Antoninus:
Are you afraid to die, Spartacus?

Spartacus:
No more than I was to be born.

Batiatus:
Good luck, and may fortune smile upon... most of you.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
The enemies of the state are known, arrests are being made, the prisons begin to fill.

Varinia:
Please die, my love... die, die now my darling!

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
One of the disadvantages of being a Patrician is that occasionally you are obliged to act like one.

Spartacus:
I am not an animal!

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
Do you eat oysters?

Antoninus:
When I have them, master.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
Do you eat snails?

Antoninus:
No, master.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral and the eating of snails to be immoral?

Antoninus:
No, master.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
Of course not. It is all a matter of taste, isn't it?

Antoninus:
Yes, master.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question of morals.

Antoninus:
It could be argued so, master.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
My robe, Antoninus. My taste includes both snails and oysters.

Lentulus Biatatus:
There's one man I hate: Crassus.

Sempronius Gracchus:
You've grown very ambitious in your hatred.

Marcus Publius Glabrus:
How were you able to get my appointment without Gracchus knowing?

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
I fought fire with oil. I purchased the Senate behind his back.

Lentulus Batiatus:
But I'm a civilian. I'm more of a civilian than most civilians.

Caius:
Sir, allow us to pledge you the most glorious triumph of your career.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
I'm not after glory, I'm after Spartacus!

Antoninus:
I'm Spartacus!

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
I promise you, a new Rome. A new Italy, and a new Empire.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
This, I have sworn by the spirits of my ancestors. This I have sworn, in the temple that guards their bones.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
In every city and province, lists of the disloyal have been compiled. Tomorrow they will learn the cost of their terrible folly... their treason.

Gracchus:
And where does my name appear on the list of disloyal enemies of the state?

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
First.

Narrator:
In the last century before the birth of the new faith called Christianity, which was destined to overthrow the pagan tyranny of Rome and bring about a new society, the Roman Republic stood at the very center of the civilized world. "Of all things fairest," sang the poet, "first among cities and home of the gods is golden Rome." Yet, even at the zenith of her pride and power, the Republic lay fatally stricken with a disease called human slavery. The age of the dictator was at hand, waiting in the shadows for the event to bring it forth. In that same century, in the conquered Greek province of Thrace, an illiterate slave woman added to her master's wealth by giving birth to a son whom she named Spartacus. A proud, rebellious son who was sold to living death in the mines of Libya before his thirteenth birthday. There, under whip and chain and sun, he lived out his youth and his young manhood dreaming the death of slavery two thousand years before it finally would die.

Varinia:
Goodbye, my love, my life. Goodbye, good-bye.

Dionysus:
[watching two Roman nobles being forced by a slave on horseback to fight to the death] Ah-ha ha! Come on, fat boy! Yeah!

Slaves:
[as Spartacus enters the arena] Spartacus! Hey, Spartacus!

Spartacus:
Noble Romans, fight each other like animals. [gestures to the slaves on the balcony] Your new masters, betting to see who'll die first. [the slaves laugh] Drop your weapons. [the slaves start booing]

Slaves:
No! No! No! No!

Crixus:
I want to see their blood, right here where Draba died! [jumps down and draws his sword] When I fight matched pairs, they fight to the death!

Spartacus:
I made myself a promise, Crixus. I swore that if I ever get out of this place, I'd die before I saw two men fight to the death again. Draba made that promise too. He kept it, so will I. [turns to the nobles] Go on. Get up! [Spartacus turns to the slaves as the nobles scurry out of the arena] What are we, Crixus? What are we becoming, Romans? What's happening to us? Have we learned nothing? We hunt wine when we should be looking for bread.

Dionysus:
When you got wine, you don't need bread!

Spartacus:
You can't just be a gang of drunken raiders.

Dionysus:
What else can we be?

Spartacus:
Gladiators, an army of gladiators. There's never been an army like that. One gladiator is worth any two Roman soldiers that ever lived.

Crixus:
We beat the Romans guards here, but a Roman army is different. They fight different than we do, too.

Spartacus:
We can beat anything they send against us if we really want to.

Crixus:
It takes a big army.

Spartacus:
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?

Dionysus:
That's right. Once we cross the Alps, we're safe.

Crixus:
Nobody can cross the Alps. Every pass is defended by its own legion.

Spartacus:
Stand up. On your feet. Stand up, the way a noble Roman should.

Slave:
That's Roman pride for you, Spartacus! [the slaves laugh]

Spartacus:
That's better. What's your name?

Glabrus:
Marcus, Glabrus.

Spartacus:
Glabrus.

Glabrus:
Commander of the Garrison of Rome!

Spartacus:
Commander?

Crixus:
He was commanding it on his belly when we found him, playing dead! [the slaves laugh]

Spartacus:
You disappoint me, Marcus Glabrus, playing dead. You afraid to die? It's easy to die. Haven't you seen enough gladiators in the arena to see how easy it is to die?

Glabrus:
Why...what are you going to do to me?

Spartacus:
I don't know. [turns to the slaves] What should we do with him?

Dionysus:
Let's have a matched pair, him and me! [the slaves laugh]

Glabrus:
I'll not fight like a gladiator!

Spartacus:
[showing Glabrus a Roman baton] You keep staring at this. You recognize this baton?

Glabrus:
Yes.

Spartacus:
You should! It was in your tent. [holds up the baton] The symbol of the Senate! All the power of Rome! [grips and snaps the baton in two]

Dionysus:
That's the power of Rome!

Spartacus:
[thrusting the broken baton at Glabrus] Take that back to your senate. Tell them you and that broken stick is all that's left of the garrison of Rome! Tell them we want nothing from Rome, nothing, except our freedom!

Crassus:
Do you steal?

Antoninus:
No, master.

Crassus:
Do you lie?

Antoninus:
Not if I can avoid it.

Crassus':
Have you... ever dishonored the gods?

Antoninus:
No, master.

Crassus':
Do you refrain from these vices out of respect for moral virtues?

Antoninus:
Yes, master.

Crassus:
Do you eat oysters?

Antoninus:
When I have them, master.

Crassus:
Do you eat snails?

Antoninus:
No, master.

Crassus:
Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral, and the eating of snails to be immoral?

Antoninus:
No, master.

Crassus:
Of course not. It is all a matter of taste, isn't it?

Antoninus:
Yes, master.

Crassus:
And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question of morals, hmm?

Antoninus:
It could be argued so, master.

Crassus:
My robe, Antoninus. My taste includes both snails and oysters. [approaches a balcony] Antoninus, look, across the river. There is something you must see. [looking toward Rome, as the garrison sets out] 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! Hmm? [chuckles] There is 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... love her. Isn't that so, Antoninus? [turns around, and sees Antoninus gone] Antoninus? Antoninus?

Spartacus:
I'd rather be here, a free man among brothers, facing a long march and a hard fight, than the richest citizen in Rome: fat with food he didn't work for, and surrounded by slaves.

Spartacus:
We've traveled a long ways together. We've fought many battles and won many victories. Now, instead of taking ships to our homes across the sea, we must fight again once more. Maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else, I don't know. But I do know that as long as we live, we must remain true to ourselves.

Spartacus:
When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That's why he's not afraid of it. That's why we'll win.

Spartacus:
Crixus always wanted to march on Rome. Now he doesn't have to. Rome has come to us.

Spartacus:
He'll come back. He'll come back, and he'll be millions!

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
If there was no Rome, I'd dream of her. If there were no gods, I'd revere them.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
I promise you, a new Rome, a new Italy and a new empire. I promise the destruction of the slave army, and the restoration of order. I promise the living body of Spartacus for whatever punishment you may deem fit. That, or his head. This I have sworn, in the name of my fathers, in the temple that guards their bones.

Marcus Licinius Crassus:
I'm not after glory, I'm after Spartacus! And gentlemen, I mean to have him. However, this campaign is not about killing Spartacus. It is to kill the legend of Spartacus.