Rome (TV Series)

How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic (2005)

David Bamber: Marcus Tullius Cicero

Photos 

Quotes 

• Pompey Magnus : Speak, young Marcus. What have you to tell us?

  Mark Antony : I have been delegated by Caesar to negotiate a compromise. Caesar wishes to avoid bloodshed. He wishes to be seen as a man of reason and probity. Therefore, when his present term as governor of Gaul has ended, he is willing to accept command of a single legion province. Illyria, by preference.

  Pompey Magnus : I don't understand.

  Mark Antony : Command of a province. So he will have legal immunity. And so that none of you rascals can go dragging him through the courts.

  Pompey Magnus : We're here to discuss the terms of Caesar's resignation. He could've avoided prosecution by accepting a few years' banishment.

  Mark Antony : [amused]  Banishment for what?

  Porcius Cato : For fomenting a tyranny! Illegal warfare! Theft! Murder! Treason!

  Mark Antony : And what shall be your punishment, Pompey? For betraying a friend, for deserting the cause of your people, for allying yourself with these so-called "noblemen," what punishment for you?

  Pompey Magnus : Impudent whelp!

  Marcus Tullius Cicero : The man's term of office ends in two weeks.

  Mark Antony : We say six months.

  Pompey Magnus : Two weeks! He sits alone in Ravenna with one mutinous skeleton of a legion, and he dares to dictate terms to me?

  Mark Antony : Caesar has many more legions than the Thirteenth.

  Scipio : On the far side of the Alps.

  Mark Antony : Winter does not last forever. Spring comes, snows melt.

  Scipio : That's a threat!

  Mark Antony : [seriously]  I assure you, it is no threat. Snows always melt.

  [Pompey thinks for a moment] 

  Pompey Magnus : If he does not get a province?

  Mark Antony : Caesar will take all measures required to protect both his interests and those of the Republic.

  Pompey Magnus : I am grieved and surprised. I had hoped we would have a rational negotiation. If that is his last word, we shall go.

  [pause] 

  Mark Antony : Then we have no more business.

• Atia of the Julii : Cicero!

  Marcus Tullius Cicero : My dear Atia. A pleasure. Forgive us for imposing at such a ludicrous hour.

  Atia of the Julii : Not at all, I adore it! The secrecy, the intrigue, it's most thrilling.

  Porcius Cato : Comprehend, woman: this meeting is invisible.

  Atia of the Julii : Be assured, Cato, I do not see you.

  [there is a knock at the door; Antony enters] 

  Atia of the Julii : General Antony, we are...

  Mark Antony : Oh, gods, your beauty is painful. You are the crucifix of Venus.

  [he kisses her hand] 

  Mark Antony : Let me die in your arms.

  Atia of the Julii : [giggling]  'Sist, Antony.

  Mark Antony : Good evening to you all.

  Porcius Cato : General Antony...

  Mark Antony : Tribune Antony, if you please.

  Porcius Cato : You are inside the sacred precincts of Rome, but yet you wear the bloody red cloak of a soldier.

  Mark Antony : [feigning surprise]  Che brutta figura! It completely fell from my mind. I'm most extremely sorry. Will you forgive me, friend Cato?

  [he starts to remove his cloak] 

  Mark Antony : Atia, please, will you take this and burn it?

  Marcus Tullius Cicero : That's not necessary.

  Mark Antony : Is it not? Oh, bene. Then let's stop all this blathering and get down to business.

  Porcius Cato : [offended]  Blathering, you say?

  Atia of the Julii : [clapping her hands]  What a congerie of heroes! Such vim. I feel like Helen of Troy. Would you adjourn to the courtyard?

• Pompey Magnus : Caesar is bluffing. He wishes to appear supremely confident. Evidently he is desperately weak, weaker than we thought. This is a last-ditch attempt to frighten us into making concessions while he still has the semblance of an army. He's weak, Cicero. Dying.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero : Is that not when all the proverbs tell us to be wary? Does not the dying serpent bite deepest?