Scene #

Description

Narration

1

A bust of Julius Caesar is shown as the narrator talks.

ROME’S MOST NOTORIOUS CITIZEN WAS BORN TO WEALTHY PARENTS IN 100 B.C. AS WITH ALL YOUNG ROMAN ARISTOCRATS, JULIUS CAESAR HAD A STRONG SENSE OF DESTINY. [ THUNDER CRASHES ]

2

A painting of Venus, followed by a sky with thunder and lightning, and a painting of Alexander the Great with his troops.

AS A CHILD, HE DARED TO CLAIM HE WAS DESCENDED FROM THE GODDESS VENUS. CAESAR’S FIRST OFFICIAL POST WAS AS A MILITARY OFFICER IN SPAIN. THERE, THE 30-YEAR-OLD CAESAR STARED AT A STATUE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. HOW HAD HE ACHIEVED NOTHING? HE WEPT, WHEN, AT HIS AGE, ALEXANDER HAD CONQUERED THE WORLD.

3

The steps of the colosseum has moving images of gladiators fighting.

[ CROWD CHEERING ] ROMAN POLITICIANS HAD ALWAYS STAGED HUGE SPECTACLES TO IMPRESS THE VOTERS. IN 63 B.C., CAESAR OUTDID THEM ALL. 640 GLADIATORS FOUGHT TO THE DEATH AT HIS FIRST PUBLIC GAMES. IT WAS AN UNPRECEDENTED DISPLAY OF POWER.

4

Caesar’s bust is showing.

BUT CAESAR KNEW THERE WERE TWO SECRETS TO GAINING POWER IN ROME. ONE WAS PLAYING TO THE PEOPLE. COMMANDING A SUCCESSFUL ARMY WAS THE OTHER.

5

A Roman army is moving across a field.

IN 59 B.C., CAESAR BECAME MILITARY COMMANDER OVER GAUL, MODERN-DAY FRANCE. NINE YEARS LATER, A MILLION GAULS WERE DEAD OR ENSLAVED. IT WAS A FLAGRANT ACT OF GENOCIDE.

6

A full moon is showing. Roman soldiers are marching.

CAESAR WOULD NOW SUMMON THE GHOST OF SULLA, ROME'S FIRST WARLORD. LIKE SULLA, CAESAR WAS RETURNING FROM WAR WITH AN ARMY LOYAL TO HIM, NOT ROME. LIKE SULLA, CAESAR WANTED SOMETHING THE REPUBLIC COULD NEVER ALLOW. IN JANUARY 49 B.C., CAESAR COMMITTED THE ULTIMATE ACT OF TREACHERY. FOLLOWING IN SULLA'S FOOTSTEPS, HE PERSUADED A ROMAN ARMY TO CROSS THE RUBICON AND MARCH INTO ROME.

7

A head bust of Sulla is shown.

THE SENATE QUICKLY CHOSE POMPEY, CONQUEROR OF THE EAST, TO DEFEND THE REPUBLIC. BUT CAESAR WANTED ABSOLUTE POWER, EVEN AT THE PRICE OF CIVIL WAR. ROME'S TWO GREATEST GENERALS MET IN GREECE. POMPEY WAS NO MATCH FOR CAESAR AND HIS BRUTAL FIGHTING FORCE.

8

Images of ancient Egypt and Cleopatra are shown.

HE FLED TO EGYPT BUT WAS EVENTUALLY CAPTURED BY CAESAR'S SPIES. THE FATE OF THE REPUBLIC HUNG IN THE BALANCE. BUT CAESAR HAD OTHER THINGS ON HIS MIND. IN EGYPT IN 48 B.C., HE MET THE YOUNG QUEEN OF THE NILE, CLEOPATRA. THEY FELL IN LOVE AND HAD A CHILD. CLEOPATRA PERSUADED CAESAR TO HELP HER OVERTHROW HER BROTHER AND GAIN THE THRONE OF EGYPT. THEN, IN 46 B.C., SHE ACCOMPANIED CAESAR BACK TO ROME. Haley: CLEOPATRA REPRESENTED FOR THE ROMANS EVERY THREAT YOU CAN IMAGINE. SHE WAS AFRICAN, A WOMAN, BEAUTIFUL. SHE WAS POWERFUL.

9

A woman in a purple blazer is talking.

YOU FIND HER SEDUCING JULIUS CAESAR -- JULIUS CAESAR, WHO CONQUERED THE GAULS, WHO WAS THIS GREAT SOLDIER, WHO WAS THIS POLITICIAN, WHO WANTED TO BE THE DICTATOR IN ROME. CLEOPATRA REMINDED THEM OF THEIR VULNERABILITY, AND THAT FRIGHTENED THEM VERY, VERY MUCH.

10

Romans are playing trumpets. Caesar is marching past the Romans.

[ CROWD CHEERING ] [ FANFARE PLAYS ] Narrator: VULNERABILITY WAS NOT SOMETHING CAESAR UNDERSTOOD. "VENI, VIDI, VICI" -- "I CAME, I SAW, I CONQUERED," WAS THE MOTTO OF HIS DAZZLING RETURN TO THE CITY. [ CROWD CHEERING ] THAT EVENING, HE THREW A BANQUET FOR 22,000 OF ROME'S POOREST CITIZENS. HYPNOTIZED, THE PEOPLE DID THE UNTHINKABLE -- THEY VOLUNTARY VOTED CAESAR THE ABSOLUTE POWERS OF A DICTATOR.

11

Caesar is giving grain to the poor.

CAESAR THEN SHOCKED EVERYONE. HE USED HIS TOTAL CONTROL NOT FOR REVENGE, BUT SOCIAL REFORM. LIKE GRACCHUS, CAESAR GAVE THE ROMAN POOR WHAT THEY WANTED. HE MADE SURE NO ROMAN CITIZEN EVER WENT HUNGRY. HE GAVE GRAIN TO THE POOR AND LAND TO HIS SOLDIERS, PAID FOR BY HIMSELF. CAESAR, THE BENIGN DICTATOR, WAS INCREDIBLY POPULAR. LIKE GRACCHUS, HE WAS A LITTLE TOO POPULAR FOR SOME.

12

The letters SPQR are showing, paper with writing on it is shown.

Cicero: HERE WAS A MAN WHO WAS DESPERATE TO BE KING OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE, MASTER OF THE WHOLE WORLD. A MAN WHO BELIEVES SUCH AN AMBITION TO BE MORALLY RIGHT MUST BE INSANE. CICERO. IN FEBRUARY 44 B.C., HE WENT TOO FAR. CAESAR ASKED THE PEOPLE TO ELECT HIM DICTATOR FOR LIFE. TO ACCEPT ABSOLUTE POWER FOREVER WAS AN OPEN INSULT TO HIS REPUBLICAN PEERS. CICERO WAS DISGUSTED AND RETIRED FROM POLITICAL LIFE IN PROTEST. [ DOOR SLAMS ]

13

Senators are meeting, a cloth, and a knife with blood fall to the ground. A fire is happening. People are running through the fire.

THE SENATE WASN'T SO MEEK. THEY INVITED CAESAR TO EXPLAIN HIS ACTIONS. IT WAS THE IDES OF MARCH. BY MID-MORNING, THE CRISIS WAS OVER. AT THE FOOT OF A STATUE OF POMPEY LAY CAESAR'S BODY, STABBED 35 TIMES. ROME'S POOR WERE OUTRAGED. AT CAESAR'S FUNERAL, THEY LIT TORCHES FROM THE PYRE AND SET FIRE TO THE HOUSES OF THE ASSASSINS. THAT NIGHT, A COMET BLAZED ACROSS THE SKY. IT SEEMED AN OMEN.

14

A statue of Caesar is showing. Ancient Historian Jeremy Paterson is talking.

JULIUS CAESAR -- THE CHAMPION OF THE POOR. THE CITIZENS OF ROME DECLARED HIM A GOD. THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING, FOR THE POOR HAD MADE IT CLEAR THEY VALUED THE GIFTS OF A DICTATOR MORE THAN THE EMPTY PROMISES OF A REPUBLIC. Paterson: YOU COULD GET RID OF CAESAR, BUT YOU COULDN'T GET RID OF CAESARISM. AS CICERO SAYS AT ONE POINT, "IT'S A STRANGE THING. WE'VE KILLED THE MAN AND CONFIRMED EVERYTHING HE'S DONE." BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T DO AWAY WITH IT. AND, IN FACT, THOSE LAST YEARS AFTER CAESAR'S MURDER ARE NOT ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE REPUBLIC -- THE REPUBLIC WAS DESTROYED BY CAESAR -- IT'S SIMPLY ABOUT WHO'S GOING TO REPLACE CAESAR. NOW THAT YOU'VE SEEN "ANCIENT ROME: STRUGGLES FOR POWER" PART ONE, TALK ABOUT THIS... TO LEARN MORE, "ASSIGNMENT DISCOVERY" SUGGESTS... "ASSIGNMENT DISCOVERY" NOW PRESENTS "ANCIENT ROME: STRUGGLES FOR POWER," PART TWO.