De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)
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| "De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)" | |
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| Octavian Caesar and the Julii at the triumph celebrating the defeat of Mark Antony | |
| Season | 2 (2007) |
| Episode | "22" |
| Air date(s) | March 25, 2007 (HBO) July 22, 2007 (BBC) |
| Writer(s) | Bruno Heller |
| Director | John Maybury |
| Setting | Rome, Alexandria |
| Time frame | September 31 BC ~ August 13-15 29 BC See also: Chronology of Rome |
| Link | HBO Summary |
| Prev: "Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (No God Can Stop a Hungry Man)" Next: "None" I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII |
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De Patre Vostro (translation: About Your Father) is the tenth and final episode of the second season of the television series Rome. It originally aired on March 25, 2007.
The final of 22 episodes (12 in the first season and 10 in the second season), this episode brought the series to a close.
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[edit] Plot summary
After losing the Battle of Actium, a vanquished Mark Antony barricades himself with Cleopatra in their palace in Alexandria. The palace becomes a place of never-ending orgies as Mark Antony and Cleopatra drug and drink themselves into stupor. Octavian sends an emissary to Mark Antony, with a secret message to Lucius Vorenus in an attempt to avoid a direct assault on the palace which might lead to a popular uprising. It is made clear that Titus Pullo is aware that Caesarion is his son and that Vorenus also knows this. Mark Antony refuses Octavian's offer of unconditional surrender and challenges Octavian to single combat. Vorenus also refuses to betray Mark Antony by opening the palace gates. Practise with Vorenus and then with an emasculated court flunky shows how much Mark Antony's physical condition has deteriorated alongside his mental condition.
Octavian refuses the challenge as barbaric and secretly sends word to Cleopatra offering her the chance to keep the crown of Egypt and save the lives of her children if she gives up Mark Antony. She tricks Mark Antony into believing that she has committed suicide. Vorenus assists in Antony's suicide at his request. Vorenus then tells Cleopatra that Octavian will keep Mark Antony's children alive as a popular gesture of mercy but will certainly kill Caesarion as a potential rival to the rule of Rome; he also reveals his plans to escape with Caesarion in an attempt to keep him alive. It is made clear that Cleopatra knows that Caesarion is actually Titus Pullo's son.
Upon meeting Octavian and failing to seduce him as she had Mark Antony, Cleopatra realizes that Octavian wishes to take her kingdom and parade her, alive but in chains, in Rome. She commits suicide by clasping an asp to her breast as Roman soldiers storm her throne room and dies calling Octavian, to his face, a monster with a "rotten soul".
Vorenus has meanwhile escaped the palace with Caesarion and Titus Pullo is charged by Octavian with finding and killing Caesarion. Vorenus and Titus Pullo meet near where they had previously saved Cleopatra's life and they discuss plans to escape Egypt. Their escape is ruined by Caesarion's inability to act other than the heir to the Egyptian throne at a Roman roadblock[1] and, although they manage to fight their way out, Vorenus is mortally wounded. He demands that Titus Pullo take him to Rome to die.
In Rome, Atia takes the news of Antony's death with satisfaction, but takes little pleasure in her son's success in at last gaining supreme power; Octavia is disturbed by Atia's mood.
After a month-long journey, Vorenus and Pullo return to Rome for an emotional reunion at the Collegium. On his deathbed, Vorenus is reconciled with his grieving children.
At the same time, Octavian's triumph is taking place. As Livia and Octavia are about to enter a podium in the Forum, late arrival Atia takes the lead, and calls Livia a "vicious little trollop", and saying "You're swearing now that some day you will destroy me, but remember that far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go look for them now."[2] Atia's look, however, is ambiguous as she watches a triumphal float pass by with the bodies of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, her lost love and his seducer, as are glances exchanged between Agrippa and Octavia.[3]
Pullo lies to Octavian about the fate of Caesarion and is rewarded, also telling him that Vorenus has succumbed to his wounds without giving details on how they were inflicted. Leaving Octavian's palace, he meets Caesarion who begins swearing revenge in his wish to claim his rightful throne as Caesar's heir, "redeeming my father's name!"
The series ends with the pair disappearing into a crowded Roman street as Titus Pullo puts his arm around his son, and says "Listen, about your father..."
[edit] Cultural references and continuity
- ^ The Roman centurion's use of an escapee's native language to trick him into revealing himself is drawn from The Great Escape. The centurion is played by Richard Dillane.
- ^ Referring to Servilia, for example, and to Livia's future murderous ambition that her son will succeed Augustus, known to TV audiences from I, Claudius.
- ^ Hinting at a fictional marriage between them which, with her previous husband Antony dead, is now possible.
[edit] Inaccuracies and errors
- Of Mark Antony's seven children, only Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene and Antonia Major are depicted in the series. Missing are his children by Fulvia: Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Iullus Antonius Creticus; his other daughter with Octavia Minor, Antonia Minor; and his youngest child with Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Similarly, Antonia Major is the only one of Octavia's five children featured.
- In the series, Caesarion appears as a young child at the time of his "death". The historical Caesarion was 17 years old by the time of Antony's defeat in Actium and was executed by Octavian in Alexandria 30 BC.
- Atia Balba Caesonia (historical basis for Atia of the Julii) was already dead at the time of Antony's defeat at Actium; in the series she is depicted attending Octavian's triumph ceremony, and there are no grounds to support the "confrontation" with Livia, Augustus's wife, about precedence.
- The triumph itself, which was portrayed relatively faithfully in the episode Triumph, is here incorrect. Octavian wears a white toga instead of the crimson of the triumphor; moreover, his face is not painted red as was the custom. It is also recorded that Octavian's stepsons Tiberius and Nero Claudius Drusus rode with him in his chariot, they are not shown here.
- The character of Lucius was born around 50 or 49 BC, which would make him 19 or 20 in this episode. However, he appears as a young boy.
- The episode's title About Your Father in Latin should be De Patre Tuo rather than De Patre Vostro. Vostro is the modern Italian equivalent of the Latin vestro, which is plural. Vostro also happens to be an archaic form of the Latin vestro. However, it could be argued that the plural adjective is intentional - the title might refer both to Caesarion and the Vorenae.
[edit] External links
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