The Robe Page #3

he's in love with her himself.

Love's like wine. A sip hurts nobody, but

to empty the bottle is to invite a headache.

Well, you won't even get a taste.

She thinks you're very funny.

- She does?

- She thought you wanted the twins.

- Lucia.

- That's what she said, Mother.

Marcellus. Are you deliberately trying

to cut the ground from under my feet,

orjust too much of a fool

to understand what you've done?

You mean my difference

of opinion with Caligula?

I lead the senators who oppose him, and my

son makes fun of him at private banquets,

and now humiliates him in public.

I'm fighting for the republic

against the tyranny of the emperors.

- I know that.

- You know nothing.

Nothing but dice and women.

And now, by your behaviour

to Caligula, by these petty slights,

you cripple me, make my fight

look like a personal quarrel.

- Yes?

- Sir, Tribune Quintus is at the door.

- For me?

- For your son.

- I'm not at home.

- Yes, sir.

Your leave. Give this to Tribune Gallio

when he does come home.

Well, aren't you going to read it?

After dinner.

Good eating to you.

Ladies. Senator Gallio.

Quintus is a very important man.

He was already my enemy.

- May we know?

- It's from Caligula.

"The courage of a military tribune must not

be squandered in baths and banquet halls. "

"You are ordered

to the garrison at Jerusalem. "

- Jerusalem.

- "You sail tonight on the Palestine galley. "

That's all. Not even

an expression of his tender regard.

Cornelia, he will need his things.

Help your mother, Lucia.

Where's Jerusalem?

Palestine.

The worst pest-hole in the empire.

A stiff-necked, riotous people

always on the verge of rebellion.

Our legions there are the scum of the army,

the officers little better than the men.

Disease takes them off like flies.

Some have been assassinated,

sometimes by their own men.

Others have spared the assassins the trouble.

What Caligula hopes he has given you

is your death sentence.

- "We who are about to die"?

- Marcellus.

Marcellus, you are

the only son I'll ever have.

You know what my ambitions

have been for you.

I know how I've disappointed you.

Try to endure it, Marcellus.

Grow hard.

Watch the hand of the man

who walks behind you.

Drink in private and sleep

with your sword at your side.

Take nothing on faith.

Bind yourself to no man.

Above all, be a Roman, my son,

and be a man of honour.

Perhaps there'll be amusement

in being a man of honour.

- Ready, sir?

- Yes, that's the last of my gear.

Ready at the oars.

Man the lines.

Careful with that, it's the wine.

Yes, sir.

There's no need to be so formal, Demetrius.

We'll both need friends where we're going.

Friends can't be bought, sir,

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