# Rome, a.d. IIII NON. MART. MMDCCLX A.U.C. (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503 "2007-03-19T01:02:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/21 "2007-03-19T18:45:03Z")
Great episode, and a good follow-up to last week’s fantastic episode. I liked the part where Vorenus was telling Caesarion about his father, assuming it was actually Pullo. And it was good to see Lucius Jr talking at last, although he seems to have a rather upper class accent for someone hanging around mostly with the not-so-upper class folks. And poor Vorena Minor-- she just doesn’t get to age properly. 🙂 Posca is a survivor, so he’ll do well. I’m not too optimistic about the final meeting of our two friends in the season finale… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/22 "2007-03-19T18:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Right, I got that, but what happened IRL that made the hostilities more open? [/QUOTE] It was a process, but the tipping point was probably Antony’s abandonment of Octavian’s sister in favor of Cleopatra along with the Donations of Alexandria. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/23 "2007-03-19T19:32:51Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] Gaia was a tough woman, and had she met Pullo under other circumstances, they might have been happy together. As it was, she did the same thing he did; eliminate the romantic rival to win the heart of the one she loved. [/QUOTE] I don’t think it’s particularly comparable: (1) Pullo acted in a fit of rage, upon learning that his entire massive crush was built upon a delusion - Gaia did it completely premeditadedly (2) Eirene knew what Pullo had done, and forgave him and loved him anyhow - Gaia kept it a secret I’m a bit skeptical that anyone could even walk after being locked in a tiny cage for 5 years. Wouldn’t his leg muscles have completely atrophied? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/24 "2007-03-19T20:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] It was a process, but the tipping point was probably Antony’s abandonment of Octavian’s sister in favor of Cleopatra along with the Donations of Alexandria. [/QUOTE] So it did happen, but Octavia and Atia never made a trip to Alexandria to be ignored at the palace gates. Got it. I cannot wait until Colleen McCullough finishes _Queen of Beasts_. I wonder what she thinks of HBO’s treatment of _Rome_? How big was the cage? Is it possible Memmio could move around a bit? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/25 "2007-03-19T20:33:18Z")
[QUOTE=PoorYorick] …But Antony choosing Cleopatra his wife, coupled with his will, showed that Antony had gone native, choosing Egypt over Rome. Antony had in effect betrayed Rome. [/QUOTE] Not only that, but Cleopatra had Anthony wrapped around her little finger. For a Roman man to be under the control of a woman like that was unthinkable. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/26 "2007-03-19T21:12:35Z")
I don’t remember much about the Taylor-Burton Cleopatra movie, but I have a feeling HBO’s version is closer to reality, at least as far as the sexual attraction part. But wow – four or five years go by and they’re still having hot monkey sex? Cool. I mean, I’m old enough to remember TV and movies before sex and violence was so explicit. I used to wonder if it was the **people** who changed. As for Memmio, they probably let him out to use the privy, don’t you think? Because who’s gonna clean that up? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/27 "2007-03-19T21:44:40Z")
Regarding Caesar’s S&M, I’m not sure that, by the ordinary standards the show has shown us, wife beating even qualifies. I mean, torturing, maybe. But mere beatings in the context of some of this barbarism seems rather tame. I didn’t pick up that Vorenus was talking about Pullo. I assumed he would know (after living in Egypt a while) who the father was thought to be. Was it just a brainfart sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/28 "2007-03-19T21:47:35Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] As for Memmio, they probably let him out to use the privy, don’t you think? Because who’s gonna clean that up? [/QUOTE] Slaves, of course. What do you think people have them for? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/29 "2007-03-19T21:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] I didn’t pick up that Vorenus was talking about Pullo. I assumed he would know (after living in Egypt a while) who the father was thought to be. Was it just a brainfart sort of thing? [/QUOTE] When he said that Caesarion’s father liked to eat a lot, the kid looked puzzled and said he had heard his father was (don’t laugh) abstemious. Vorenus quickly said something like “well, others undoubtably knew him better than I”. But you could tell when he was talking about having him on your side in a fight that he was talking about Pullo. I assume that Vorenus figured the kid wouldn’t know the difference, and just talked vaguely about Pullo. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/30 "2007-03-19T23:36:13Z")
Entertainment Weekly’s blurb for the finale says that: Vorenus and Pullo are reunited with their children, and that the end is tragic and heartbreaking. So my guess is that Pullo is sent by Octavian to kill Caesarion, and either does it and suicides, or is killed by Voreus to protect the kid. Then Vorenus goes back to Rome, where he gets stabbed in the back by his daughter. But the previews seem to show that Atia and Octavia get to witness Octavian’s triumph, and probably his accession as Augustus Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/31 "2007-03-19T23:45:01Z")
Anyone know if the finale is going to be two hours, or will HBO shaft us and only give us a regular episode? (Seems like a lot to fit into one episode - hell this whole season has been rushed). ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/32 "2007-03-19T23:54:48Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] …But the previews seem to show that Atia and Octavia get to witness Octavian’s triumph, and probably his accession as Augustus Caesar. [/QUOTE] Well, wouldn’t the real Octavia have still been alive to see her brother’s “coronation”? What exactly would Octavian becomong Augustus have meant at the time? Roman emperors weren’t called that until centuries later (and _imperator_ originally meant commander and was given to victorius generals) and it wasn’t quite like being a monarch yet, more along the lines of a single person holding many offices at once. Augustus mainted the fiction that he was merely the _Princeps_ or “First Citzen” and that Rome was still a republic governed by the “Senate and People of Rome” (as did many of his succesors). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/33 "2007-03-20T00:03:07Z")
Yep. She should have seen it, and they’ve already decided to make Atia character different from the historical Atia, so they let her live to see her son become “First Citizen.” I wasn’t questioning the event, just stating what was shon in the preview, as opposed to my speculation as to what is going to happen to Pullo and Vorenus. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503/34 "2007-03-20T01:25:53Z")
How long would a sea voyage from Rome to Alexandria have taken? 😕 It can’t have been very comfortable even by Roman (well pampered matron at least) standards. And Merula must be one hell of a beautician if she can make Atia and Octavia look that good less than an hour after spending days (weeks?) at sea 😃 ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-a-d-iiii-non-mart-mmdcclx-a-u-c-spoilers/396503.md?page=1)