The Last Days of Pompeii

Marcus:
Money is all that matters. Well, I can get money! It's easy to get money! All you have to do... is kill.

Marcus:
He still believes in things.

Pontius Pilate:
And you and I are wiser? Perhaps... What is truth?

Pontius Pilate:
My boy, I've heard such ideas, a long time ago. They are dreams - beautiful dreams, I know, but dreams nonetheless.

Flavius, as a Man:
Was it a dream that once I knew a man who said "Love thy neighbor as thyself"?

Marcus:
There never was such a man, I tell you.

Pontius Pilate:
Don't lie to him, Marcus. There was such a man.

Flavius, as a Man:
What happened to him?

Pontius Pilate:
I crucified Him.

Pontius Pilate:
I am innocent of the blood of this just man.

Cleon, the Slave Dealer:
[pandering] If you're a rich man, a few coppers wouldn't interest you. [giving Marcus a coin] This is for your work... [he gives him a second copper]... and this is for saving my life.

Marcus:
[laughing with contempt] Just about what the job is worth!

Gaius Tanno:
You remind me of an acrobat in the arena walking on a rope stretched high in the air.

Marcus:
Walking on a rope?

Gaius Tanno:
Yes, a rope no wider than my thumb.

Marcus:
[laughing] I'm not walking on a rope.

Gaius Tanno:
Oh, yes, you are. Every poor man is. You think you're balanced nicely, but only money can make you safe. Some little unexpected thing, and you're down... smashed!

Cleon, the Slave Dealer:
I don't think you should look down on me, my friend. Aren't we in the same business? We both furnish amusement for the people.

Marcus:
I risk my life with the man I'm fighting. You buy and sell wretches to be slaughtered as a spectacle. I'm not proud of myself, but, by Jupiter, compared to you I'm a holy man.

Cleon, the Slave Dealer:
You will never be an old one. It isn't bravery that survives; it's brains.

Marcus:
Yes, it is well known that the rat lives longer than the lion, but who wants to be a rat? I wouldn't do your dirty work - not to save my life!

Marcus:
If you don't want my money, what will you give to the poor?

Flavius, as a Man:
Myself.

Prefect:
What do you keep behind these locks and bolts?

Marcus:
My fortune, excellency. It's a safe place.

Burbix:
Would the prefect like to inspect the barbarians - the Britons who are to fight tomorrow?

Marcus:
Yes. [to the prefect] Captives from Agricola's campaign.

Prefect:
I wonder why we Romans trouble ourselves with that wretched island? After it's conquered, what good is it?

Marcus:
Don't you believe we can ever civilize the Britons?

Prefect:
Those people? They'll always be barbarians. What will they ever do?

Pontius Pilate:
[carelessly, after Marcus has thanked him for a payment] What have I done/ [Suddenly stricken with guilt] What have I done?

Marcus:
Excellency!

Pontius Pilate:
Forgive me. I am not myself. Just now I have been forced to condemn a Man. Poor Man, I found no fault in Him. But I must try to keep the peace.