Rome

"I shall be a good politician. Even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else, for that matter."
—Mark Antony

Rome is a semi-historical drama series co-produced by HBO and the BBC that aired between 2005 and 2007. It follows the lives of politicians, socialites, and soldiers in Ancient Rome starting During the War under Caesar and progressing through the power struggles and ascension of Augustus as the Emperor of Rome. Featuring one of the most notable Evil Matriarch characters in recent TV history, Atia of the Julii.

One of its most innovative ideas was to focus on the lives of ordinary fictional Romans, rather than just historical figures like Caesar or Augustus. This had been explored before in literature and in Sit Coms, but Rome was the first television drama to do so. It was a great concept, though opinions differ on whether it managed to pull it off well or not. The show had a tremendous ensemble cast, incredible production values and was both epic in scope and paid meticulous, loving attention to detail. It ended after its second series due to insufficient ratings to justify its massive expense. HBO executives later regretted the decision as DVD sales turned out to be very good.

Creator Bruno Heller announced a feature film to be based on the series, but a recent interview reveals that the project is in Development Hell.

For the place in Italy, see The Eternal City.

Tropes used in Rome include:
  • Aborted Arc: Timon's subplot peters out after only a few episodes before he's Put on a Bus. It's been suggested that, had the series gone on longer, the final season would have dealt with the rise of The Messiah in Judea. Had this actually happened, he probably would have had a much bigger role.
  • Actor Allusion: When Mark Antony meets Publicus Servilius (played by Simon Callow) in the episode Egeria, Servilius asks him, "Forgive me, have we met before?" They have. Simon Callow and James Purefoy were both in the film Bedrooms and Hallways (where, incidentally, we get to see Mark Antony and Lucius Vorenus make out.)
  • Alliteration: Very briefly, but memorably with Pullo's "It's a sphucking sphinx!" line.
  • Affably Evil: Mark Antony, so very much.
  • Anachronism Stew: Mostly averted, although there are a number of examples. Although early in the Roman Republic Plebeians generally did constitute a politically disenfranchised and poor lower class. By the time of the show however Plebeians had more or less formal political equality with Patricians, and there were enough instances of Plebeians becoming rich and Patricians becoming destitute that the title had little bearing on economic status. With the conflict in Rome at the time being mostly rich vs. poor, depicting the rivalry as being essentially Plebeians vs. Patricians is very attractive, but also very inaccurate. Many Republicans were in fact very wealthy Plebeians, most notably Cicero and Cato the Younger (the latter being depicted on the show as regarding Plebeians as trash).
  • Ancient Rome: Of course. The final period of The Roman Republic.
  • Animated Credits Opening: A special case, the credits feature animated graffitis and paintings over the walls of the city.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: "HE WAS A CONSUL OF ROME!". Caesar when presented with Pompey's head.
  • Anything That Moves: Mark "I'm not getting out of bed until I've fucked someone" Antony. Especially given, as a condition of marriage, Atia demands that Antony get rid of all the house slaves—male or female—that he's bedded.
  • Armour Piercing Question: Not actually a question, but "You have a rotten soul." clearly leaves Octavian shaken.
  • Badass: Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus. Part of it stems from Plot Armor, but these two regularly take the phrases "Outnumbered by 3 to 1" and "Numerical superiority" and do unprintable things to them.
    • They *are* legionaries, with superior training to most of the mooks they square against. Plus, most of them never see it coming, since Pullo and Vorenus are mostly in civilian garb. And then the pain starts...
  • Badass Boast:
    • Simply, "I'm Titus Pullo, right!"
    • Mark Antony buggers boys like Octavian for his morning snack.
    • "I got a bit carried away". Antony "consoling" a Brutus who has to hastily retreat from Rome after Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral rises a very angry mob against the conspirators.
    • "I am a son of HADES! I fuck Conchord in her ASS!"
    • A relatively rare female example in Atia's last dialogue "You're swearing now that someday you'll destroy me. Remember, far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go and look for them now".
  • Barbarian Tribe:
    • The series starts with Caesar in Gaul crushing the remaining Arvernian forces of Vercingetorix, who is vanquised and thrown into a dungeon. He reappears during Caesar's triumph to be displayed and publicly executed. Another tribe plays a role in the first episode, the Blue Spaniards, agents of Pompey.
    • Some relatively refined members of Celtic tribes are later appointed senators by Caesar. Traditional Roman senators are appalled by that.
  • Bastard Boyfriend: Octavian tells Livia before their wedding that he'll whip her just because it arouses him. Once married, Octavian finds it way more arousing if Livia beats him instead.
  • Battle Discretion Shot: Done to save money. The battle of Pharsalus, where Caesar defeated Pompey, is shown only as a couple of horsemen clanging at each other, followed by one of Pompey's standards falling into the dust.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty: Caesar never said Et Tu, Brute? when dying, and the series correctly leaves out the phrase. In the next episode, Brutus says to his mother, after she agrees with those who think he should kill Antony: "You too, mother?"
    • Worth mentioning is that Ciaran Hinds' facial expression, especially his eyes, carried the question "Et tu, Brute?" silently. Very effective.
  • Beard of Sorrow:
    • Mark Antony grows a beard after Octavian crushes his rebellion. By a historical account, this actually happened.
    • Vorenus and Pullo after the death of Niobe. This was actually Roman custom.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Pullo and Gaia.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Don't insult the Thirteenth Legion, just don't. Or cheat at dice, or be a Smug Snake (you might get your tongue bitten out), and, and, and... Pullo is basically a nice chap and possibly the most sane character of the series, but he definitely also has a temper on him and a ruthless streak as wide as the Via Appia.
    • By the same token, try not to be the person reading a speech of Cicero's where he calls Mark Antony "Rome's Helen of Troy" and says that it fits him, because "a woman's role always suited you best" if the person in question is in earshot.
    • Also not a good idea to suggest to Vorenus that he do anything dishonourable for his own profit. The look on Pullo's face as he watches some poor Mook suggest they team up to sell out Pompey pricelessly says it all. Vorenus calmly tells the mook that he has until Vorenus finishes speaking to run away and then coldly stabs him through the throat when the warning is not heeded.
  • Big Bad and Big Good: Julius Caesar. To the senate, he is the former. To large parts of the Roman army and people he is the latter.
  • Biggus Dickus: Atia sends Servilia a gift of a slave with a wang that would make Doctor Manhattan blush. That had to have been a hell of a casting call.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Lots of Latin graffiti, some of which (ATIA FELLAT OMNES comes to mind) are self-explanatory even if you don't know Latin.
  • Bishonen: Maecenas.
  • Biopic: The first season chronicles the rise and fall of Caesar, as well as the childhood of Octavian, whose growth into Emperor Augustus is the arc of the second season.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Octavian manages to fight his way out of his mother's shadow and become emperor, but with the implication that he may turn out to be just as depraved as Antony was. Meanwhile, Vorenus dies, but he manages to die at peace, knowing that his children have forgiven him for their mother's death. And Pullo manages to save Caesarion (who is really his biological son) from Octavius, and goes off to raise him as his own.
    • If you know history, the only bittersweet ending is Vorenus' fate. The rest, alas, is history (and Octavian being awesome).
  • Black and Grey Morality And the gray is really, REALLY dark. This makes hard to clearly define many a character as Anti-Villain or Anti-Hero.
  • Blood Bath: Atia takes a shower in the blood pouring down from a slaughtered bull in the first episode.
  • Blood on the Debate Floor :
    • A full on fight breaks out in the senate when Pompey's supporters pass a motion that calls on Caesar to return and surrender or be labeled a traitor and condemned to death. Caesar's supporters don't take this well, as might be expected. A second fights ensues (but just outside the Senate House and not triggered by political reasons) before Antony attemps to enter the Senate to try to veto the motion again, as the previous session was resumed due to a technicality. The fights prevent Mark Antony from vetoing the motion, which was what Pompey wanted in the first place and make a perfect Casus Belli for the Civil War, as People's Tribune are inviolable The motion was supposed to show Caesar he was alone, nothing more and was not expected nor wanted to be approved. Altough the die-hard optimates do in fact want to destroy Caesar bluntly so it is not a total blunder to everyone.
    • Caesar's assassination is the climax of Season I.
    • Cicero sends a message to be read in the Senate in his absence, which turns out to be a scathing attack on Antony. All the Senators begin to leave in a hurry and Antony demands the clerk to read out the whole thing and then bludgeons the poor bastard to death with the scroll.
    • Earlier on, Antony pretends to be appalled by this trope, but in his usual insincere but lovable fashion he is only using stealth puns and oblique insults.

Antony You boys play too rough for me. Knives in the Senate House? I didn't know you had it in you.

  • Book Ends: The series begins and ends with the newsreader announcing that there is a reward for a missing slave, "stolen or absconded." It is probably meant to imply that despite all the goings on in the show (several wars, much drama and the Republic being reorganized into The Empire), for the common people things have changed not at all.
  • Bread and Circuses: Withholding shipments of grain is coldly used as a political leverage, because shortages of bread (generously provided by the state) would make the ruler of Rome tumble thanks to internal unrest.
  • Break the Cutie:
    • Subverted with Lucius Vorenus. He is a dour straight man prone to flying off the handle at the slightest hint of dishonesty. He eventually snaps.
    • Octavia breaks, but eventually snaps back into a less stressed version of herself.
    • Jocasta is raped and "socially ruined" due to Atia's machinations because she is a bad low-birth influence to Octavia and his father is being purged for being very rich.
  • British Accents: A large portion of the main cast is British or Irish, but the accents used to represent wealth and status are the same as those used in modern Britain.
  • Broken Pedestal: Brutus regards Caesar as a father figure and starts with "Well Done, Son" Guy traits. He is gradually manipulated by his mother Servilia and finally breaks with Caesar when Brutus is appointed governor of a far-away province by a wary Caesar. Mutual suspicions arise and as Brutus puts it "Only tyrants need fear tyrant killers"
  • Brother-Sister Incest:
    • Octavian and Octavia.
    • Implied when Cleopatra calls her brother her husband. This one is Truth in Television.
  • Butt Monkey: Lepidus, who is remembered primarily as the least important member of the Second Triumvirate, is treated as such on the show. His own army abandons him for Mark Antony, he's generally kept out of the loop and when he starts talking people usually just ignore him.
  • Call That a Formation:
    • Averted; Caesar's legions are shown forming a testudo (turtle, wall of shields) and rotating their troops in a disciplined way. Legionnaire Titus Pullo leaves the formation and is punished for that.
    • Played with later at the battle of Philippi; Both sides start in organized formations but the battle later degenerates into a massive confused brawl. It can be seen later that Octavian and Anthony's forces have the clear upper hand when significant numbers have reformed into tight formation to advance toward the command position of Brutus and Cassius.
  • Catch Phrase: Antony's "By Juno's cunt!"
  • Chekhov's Gun: The truth about Vorenus' grandson is later used by Caesar's would be murderers to get Vorenus out of the picture.
  • Chessmaster:
    • Subverted with Julius Caesar, who lets his empathy get in the way.
    • Octavian, however, manipulates everyone like a ruthless genius.
    • Atia likes to think she's this but since her plans fail at least half the time and she seems to act on whim a lot she's more of a Smug Snake.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Pullo with Eirene.
  • Cincinnatus: Antony states during the aftermath of Caesar's death that he will follow trope namer's example and retire once his mandate expires.

Antony: I will serve out my term as consul and then return to the provinces, plough my fields and fuck my slaves like old Cincinnatus.

  • Civil War: Perpetual but not very emphasized beyond a clash of characters. This Rome rules most of the known world and has a martial culture without external threats so it is a natural avocation.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: "I'm Titus Fucking Pullo, Cunt!" among many, many others.
  • Coitus Uninterruptus: Atia and Mark Antony. Though not with each other.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture:
    • Octavian and Pullo interrogate a man regarding Vorenus' grandson. Pullo hesitates and doesn't know what to do, pointing out that in the army there are TortureTechnicians. Finally is Octavian who suggest a successful method (thumbs out).
    • In Season Two Servilia is tortured by Atia's men. Torture methods included gang rape and partial flaying.
  • Combat by Champion: A surrounded Antony challenges Octavian to this kind of personal resolution, who just laughs at the idea.
  • Combat Breakdown: The Battle of Philippi starts out as a relatively orderly Roman vs Roman battle, with both sides fighting using the "fight for a few minutes, switch" approach, though it quickly degenerates into a chaotic melee.
  • Conscription: Pompey can only oppose green young recruits against the advancing forces of Caesar in Italy. Pompey's boys are no match for Caesar's seasoned, hardened veterans.
  • Cool Chair: Cassius affirms that Caesar's chair at the senate (curule seat) is a throne, but Brutus refutes it pointing out it's just too plain modest and chairlike to qualify...
  • Country Matters: Many, many times. The most memorable is when Mark Antony's slave writes a letter to Caesar, saying "...and the Tribune's behavior was just as offensive as you thought". While the slave writes that, we hear Antony having rough sex in with Atia the background while roaring "JUNO'S CUNT!" (his actual Catch Phrase)
  • Corrupt Church: The augurs qualify, if only because their leader takes bribes.
  • Corrupt Politician: Inherent in the System, it would be easier to list the honest ones... if such men exist in the show. Legalist catonians allegedly; Vorenus tries to be a straight one during his brief stint in Season I.
  • Cosmic Plaything: Lucius "Fortune pisses on me again" Vorenus. The gods seem to take perverse pleasure in putting him into awful situations and having him escape by the skin of his teeth, only to wind up in another mess, and occasionally happiness is dangled before him, only to be snatched away. In the first series, he even gets offered a position in the senate, no less! But once again, fate and patrician political machinations conspire to tear his life apart at a critical moment. Also In a major chain of events Vorenus sparing Pompey leads to Caesar in Egypt -> Pullo -> Caesarion -> Last episode Vorenus being mortally wounded defending him.
  • Cowboy Cop: Pullo, he is under strict orders about not attacking Pompeyan forces but he disregards those orders and charges against the easily outmatched green soldiers of Pompey. Caesar benefits greatly by this insubordination as he realizes his enemy is very weak in Italy.
  • Crapsack World
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Brutus.
  • Culture Clash: Most Romans are very dismissive or worse about anything foreign, as Caesar puts it when the Egyptian chancellor doubts his consular jurisdiction : "Is there some other form of law [Roman one], you wretched woman?"
  • Cultured Warrior: Lucius Vorenus. He often cites examples from Roman history during his Honor Before Reason rants, sometimes talks about other cultures (eg. the Egyptian gods) as if he's read up about them and the reason he was sent on the mission to find Caesar's stolen eagle in the first place was because his superior officer thought he was clever.
  • Dawson Casting: Early in the series, 16-year-old Max Pirkis played then 11-year-old Octavian. By the time his character's age caught up with him in season 2, he looked too young to play an adult Octavian, so they replaced him with 27-year-old Simon Woods starting at an episode where Octavian should be 21.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Maecenas, Posca, Cicero, sometimes Cato. Antony too, when he is not throwing a tantrum, and others.

Cato: So in effect, this is not a humiliating defeat at all, but a rare species of victory?
Cicero: Worms' is harsh. Worms cannot run away as speedily as we do.
Posca: I was not aware irony had military uses.
Brutus: Oh, Africa. Dear gods, we are fast running out of continents.

Cassius: Our men at arms have secured the city. We've recieved representitives from all the best elements. The senate is with us, the knights are with us. Brutus: The pontifs, the urban cohorts, the lictors guild...
Antony: Oh, the lictors guild, very good. Only rally the bakers and the flute players and you can put on a festival.[1]

Servilia: Do not look so pleased with yourself. You’re a liar and a breaker of oaths, and you’ve roused your rabble, nothing more. A pantomime actor might have done what you did today.
Antony: Lucky then it was me that did it, eh? Else you would now be on your knees sucking pantomime’s cock...

  • Dead Guy on Display:
    • Vercingetorix is executed during the triumphal parade of Caesar, who comments that he man looked dead already.
    • In Season 2 Cicero's dead hands are nailed to the Senate door. Antony makes good on an early threat.
    • Mark Antony and Cleopatra during the Season Finale.
  • Death by Irony: Brutus' death strangely resembles that of Caesar's, in which Brutus plays a major part.
  • Death Faked for You: Cleopatra's son is ordered to be killed, but Titus Pullo just pretends he did it. Because the boy is his son.
  • Decapitation Presentation:
    • Turned into a Running Gag in an episode, where multiple severed heads are displayed on spikes above the door of a building because the owners of the heads kept pissing the wrong people off.
    • Vorenus keeps the severed head of Erastes Fulmen during one bad case of Heroic BSOD.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Vorenus is a male example.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: Many
    • Most notably in one situation where Lucius Vorenus decides that the most ethical thing to do is kill a little boy. It's heartbreaking to see how torn he is between "doing the right thing" and killing his wife's bastard, and listening to his instinct to not kill a child. The series might just be the single best example for this trope ever to appear on TV. To establish the mood, the very first episode has one of the main characters crucifying prisoners of war. He's one of the (somewhat) good guys.
    • Atia pimping her own daughter Octavia to Pompey in order to secure a political marriage. Pompey is offered a "taste the merchandise" first. Cue Octavia naked on all fours like an animal.
    • Atia arguing with her daughter Octavia over who shall kill Octavia before the mob breaks through the gates. Octavia doesn't want her mother to kill her simply because they are still angry with each other. That they should all commit suicide is not disputed. Atia orders her slave to kill her if she is not able to herself, and orders the slave to kill himself right afterward, since it would be inappropriate for him to live on. He obediently agrees.
    • Another example, Niobe: "Love doesn't come unbidden, you must work for her. Strange marriage it would be if you loved each other from the start."
    • Atia sending Servilia the gift of a naked slave, picked because of his large genitals. "A large penis is always welcome!"
    • When coupling, having servants in the room to fan you and hand you water is a must.
    • Pullo's mother and father were slaves, yet he owns a slave himself. The learned Posca is a slave, which doesn't seem to bother him; his living standard is much higher than that of most free men. When he is freed he purchases slaves. The institution of slavery is never in question.
    • Atia chastises her teenage son for not having enough sex. She even forces him to eat sheep testicles to make him more virile, and eventually insists that he visit a brothel so he won't dishonor his family by being a virgin.
    • An example that also plays as in-universe Values Dissonance when a serious Cassius is brokering a political deal with a casual Asian ruler who is really interested in a form of bestiality that the Romans use as a punishment and not as an entertainment. Cassius complies without much objection anyway but he is subtly shocked.
  • Democracy Is Bad :
    • The Opening Narration states that Rome—a Republic with many democratic traits—cannot govern itself. Magistrates are elective but many of the characters work to avoid what they call rule of the mob, consider elections as a formality, just a matter of bribes and demagoguery and some are deeply offended when the Senate becomes less restrictive and incorporates pleb citizens and non-roman ones. Nobody really believes in democracy anyway, everything is done behind the scenes by the oligarchy, although the caesarians are somehow the people's party as they draw a lot of their power from the plebs.
    • Naive Newcomer and staunch legalist Vorenus is disgusted when he discovers the fraud about Roman democracy but Posca convinces him it's for the best.

Posca The people are not crying out for clean elections, they're crying out for stability and peace. They're crying out for jobs and food and clean water...You can do great things for your people

    • Antony plays the elections card when he negotiates the aftermath of Caesar's assasination. Messy things elections The conspirators are horrified as they would have to validate their taken for granted powers. They reach a compromise and no democracy is needed.
    • By the end of the show the city is ruled by a sole dictator, and the order is achieved. (In Real Life an unprecedented era of prosperity ensued, the Pax Augusta aka Pax Romana)
  • Determinator: Cleopatra. "I must have him or I will die... So I will have him."
  • The Dog Bites Back: Timon to Attia, when Attia tries to force him to murder a captive Servilia.

"I am NOT a fucking animal!"

  • Downer Ending: Very narrowly averted. The series was originally supposed to end after one season, with Caesar's murder being the Grand Finale. That means that the Season 1 finale, where Vorenus' wife kills herself in front of him and their children, and Brutus' mom strongarms him into orchestrating his best friend's murder, was originally going to be the finale for the entire series. As bittersweet as the real ending was, it could have been much worse.
  • Driven to Suicide: Many characters, most of them historical examples. Overlaps with Better to Die Than Be Killed
  • The Dung Ages: If you're a pleb.
  • Dying as Yourself: Antony, who abandons egyptian style and returns to roman attire and weapons to commit suicide : "Tell the people I died well, I died Roman"
  • Easily Forgiven: Caesar can be ruthless but manages to fit this trope fairly well. He spares Vorenus and Pullo several times and his response to Brutus and Cicero trying to surrender is to hug them, apologise to Brutus while kissing his cheek, beg them to tell him that Pompey, an even bigger enemy, is still alive, and then, drag them off to have food since it must have been awhile since they had a decent meal. More than one character points out that forgiving people is Caesar's shtick, doing double duty as a way to be seen as a Reasonable Authority Figure and to make people beholden to him. Note that this was the modus operandi too of the real life Caesar.
  • The Empire. The ur-example, although we don't actually get there until the very end of the series, in an absolutely spine-chilling moment when the true extent of Octavian's power finally becomes clear.
  • Enemy Mine: Antony and Octavian team up against the senatorial forces.
  • Establishing Character Moment:
    • Pullo breaking formation to kick some Gaul ass, then quipping "Already? I was just beginning to enjoy myself!" when his superiors are done whipping him for insubordination.
    • Vorenus' first shown mission; He suggests, under duress, that the best way to find a thief among the conquered tribes would be to crucify members of each clan one by one until they talk. He shows no pleasure at this, even slightly pained by their screams, but still does it. When one gives him the information, he orders all of them to be taken down while lamenting his own situation (pretty rich for a guy at the foot of a currently occupied cross). This sets up the moral overtones of most of the series, and shows how honorbound Vorenus is.
    • Vorenus eagerly anticipating seeing his wife again, then flying into a rage and calling her a whore when he suspects that she might have been unfaithful.
    • Antony strolling into Caesar's tent covered in blood, bantering with Brutus, and then, when given a mission to accomplish on a strict budget, unabashedly stealing half the money anyway.
    • Atia unabashedly assigning a politically oriented errand to a man the moment the two finish having sex.
    • Atia forcing her daughter to divorce the man she loves on the off chance that Pompey might marry her, then calling her a "torpid little she-cow" when the plan fails.
    • Octavian condescendingly telling Pullo that he's "a Roman citizen of noble birth" while he's hog-tied in the dirt, then calmly beating the snot out of one of his disabled captors and singlehandedly deducing Caesar's political maneuvering—all in the two minutes after he's freed.
    • A condensed triple one in the second episode. Rowdy Pullo makes a lewd remark, Vorenus commands him to show decency as he is under Rome's standard. Pullo talks back pointing at General Antony, who is fornicating a young sheperd by a tree with his entire personal escort watching and with his cohorts halted—they are marching towards Rome on the double -- . Legalist Vorenus replies that he (Antony) is not under the standard.
    • The first Senate session: A radical Cato—the only senator dressed in black—gives a condemmatory and incendiary speech against Caesar (a war hero still in Gaul), while the flexible Cicero suggests a more subtle opposition.
    • Due to Character Development, Vorenus has a new one in Season 2 : "I am a son of HADES! I fuck Conchord in her ASS!" - Video
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Without the actual sentence being pronnounced. Ciaran Hinds' facial expression, especially his eyes, carries the question "Et tu, Brute?" silently. Very effective.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Brutally subverted with Octavian in the second season. Silence.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Erastes Fulman, the Roman equivalent of a mob boss, flies into a rage when he hears that Mark Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral incited a riot. Amusingly enough, he threatens to 'disjoint' his men if they participate in the uproar.

"We observe the fucking decencies!"

  • Evil Chancellor: Maecenas is this to Octavian. Evil Eunuch Pothinus tries to be this to Ptolemy XIII, only to fail spectacularly.
  • Evil Matriarch: Atia is the epitome of this trope. Later, Servilia becomes one as well.
  • Executive Meddling
    • Writer Bruno Heller learned that HBO cancelled the show when he was halfway into writing the second season. The result: ~15 years of history compressed into 8 episodes, plus a subplot with Timon and his brother that goes absolutely nowhere. (Since then HBO execs admitted that the cancellation was probably a not a good idea.)
    • When the series first aired the BBC edited the first three episodes down to just two, without the director's knowledge. The official reason given was that the BBC felt British viewers were already familiar with Roman history and so a lot of the background information was unnecessary
  • Faking the Dead: Cleopatra's servant fatally tricks Antony --who is a political liabilty by then-- into thinking her master / his lover is dead . Vorenus is appalled when he discovers the ruse.
  • Family Relationship Switcheroo: Niobe's illegitimate son presented as grandson to fool Vorenus.
  • Femme Fatale: Atia yet again. Gaia and Cleopatra count as well.
  • Fetish: The senatorial leaders in exile resort to an Asian ruler who casually request an interspecies erotica show (baboon meets woman) as the condition for his help. The Romans akwardly seal the deal and comply. The scene serves as in-universe Values Dissonance, Cassius points out it's not an entertainment but a punishment (used by Romans) and is subtly shocked by the requirement (but complies).[2]
  • Fire-Forged Friends:
  • Friendly Enemy: Done between arch-enemies and subverted.
    • Atia and Servilia are socially polite and behave as friends in public and sometimes in private, but they both know it's all an act and a display of power and alternated supremacy.
    • Antony enjoys acting like if he and Cicero were friends and Cicero follows suite, but it's just a pantomime, almost sadistic. One rarely miss a chance to hurt the other when the political tide is favourable.
  • Friendship Moment: Vorenus and Pullo have a ton of these, but Brutus and Cassius have one as well.
  • Foe Yay: Antony flirts with almost everyone, including the people he threatens. With Brutus, in particular, he often seems to veer into pigtail pulling territory. If only the show had included the historical account of him wrapping Brutus's dead body in his purple mantle...
  • Foreign Cuss Word: Pullo's favourite exclamations are Gerrae and Cack, Latin words. (the last one also exists in English but is not widely used as such)
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Pullo is sanguine, Antony choleric / sanguine, Caesar melancholic and Vorenus phlegmatic / melancholic. (Season 1 only)
  • Genre Savvy:
  • Gladiator Games: Pullo is sentenced to fight and die in the arena. He kills five of the gladiators instead in a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Going Native : Lucius Vorenus is complimented in Egypt by Atia for totally averting this and staying properly Roman; the other Roman officials including triumvire Mark Antony did not, a thing that is used politically against him, as happened in Real Life.
  • Gorgeous Period Dress: If you're a patrician.
  • Government in Exile: In season 1 the senators who flee from Caesar and act like the legitimate rulers of Rome until the end. Cassius and Brutus in season 2
  • Graceful Loser: Cicero, affable and calmly collected to the very end.
  • Great Way to Go: Servilia's theatrical suicide.

Antony: Now that is an exit!

  • The Gump: Vorenus and Pullo. One episode is even called "How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic."
  • Guyliner: On Mark Antony, when he's in Egypt. YUM.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Erastes Fulmen is always either boisterously Affably Evil or seething with rage. One of his funniest moments is when he rages at a slave who whistles: "For fuck's sake, stop that Teutonic droning! If you have to whistle like someone's bum-boy, at least whistle a Roman song!"
  • Happily Married:
    • Posca and Jocasta.
    • Octavian and Livia seem to fit this trope, in a very twisted version of it.
  • Happiness in Slavery:
    • Posca enjoys a trusted position as Caesar's slave and there is clearly considerable affection between the two, to the extent that Posca weeps bitterly over Caesar's death and Caesar explicitly freed him in his will.
    • The same goes for Cicero's secretary Tiro, as well. In Real Life, the two men became friends and Cicero freed him.
  • Hard Head: Played with. Pullo is knocked unconscious and falls into a coma when a blow to the head puts a splinter inside his scalp. He undergoes painful surgery and finally makes a full recovery.
  • Heroic BSOD: Once the Unstoppable Rage has worn off, Vorenus has one of these after believing his whole family is dead. Pullo also has one towards the end of Season One when Vorenus rejects him.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners:
    • Vorenus and Pullo.
    • Brutus and Cassius in season two.
  • Historical Domain Character: Easily half the major characters. Technically even Vorenus and Pullo, though in their case it was simply taking the names of two of Caesar's real centurions mentioned in his book De bello Gallico and creating the characters from whole cloth.
  • Hollywood Costuming: Egypt.
  • Honor Before Reason: Vorenus frequently.
  • Hot Shounen Mom: Yes, Atia again.
  • Implied Death Threat:
    • Consul Antony and Cicero are verbally fencing. Cicero wants the cards on the table. Antony enjoys himself.

Cicero Please go on, make your threats. I don't like to submit to mere implication.
Antony There is a question I've always wanted to ask you. Your old friend Crassus, when he was captured by the Parthians, is it true that they poured molten gold down his throat? Because that would really sting.

    • A slight variation early in the show. Antony again.

Mark Antony : Caesar has many more legions than the Thirteenth.
Scipio: Yes, on the far side of the Alps.
Mark Antony: Winter does not last forever. Spring comes. Snows melt.
Scipio: That is a threat!
Mark Antony : No, I assure you, that is no threat. Snows always melt.

  • Info Dump: Octavian's informed monologue about the events of the first episode not only filled in the finer political points of the episode to Pullo and Vorenus but the audience as well.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Octavian and Pullo.
  • Interplay of Sex and Violence: More than once, especially with Pullo and Gaia (they come close to "It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It") and with Octavian and his wife Livia—he flat-out tells her that he will beat her occasionally during their marriage because it gives him sexual pleasure, and she seems to be into it later on.
  • It's All About Me: Atia ignores the word empathy, everything she does gravitates around her self-centered schemes. Subverted in her final scene where she realizes she is Lonely at the Top. (Implied by her face when she looks at Antony's dummy)
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Titus Pullo.
  • Just Following Orders: A casual and comical mention:

Vorenus: Pullo, report to Princess Cleopatra and do whatever she tells you.

  • Cue a prolonged bout of vigorous and noisy sex.*

Pullo: Gods, that was something, let me tell you.
Vorenus: I don't want to hear about it. If you're wise, you'll never speak of this again.
Pullo: Why? I was only obeying orders. Bloody good orders, too.

Atia:: Well congratulations, you're good as king now.
Augustus: First Citizen

  • Kent Brockman News: The Forum newsreader remains the same through the series and his news are nothing but pure propaganda for whoever is in charge at the moment. The news are often followed by advertisements read in the same hamming tone.
  • Last Episode Theme Reprise
  • Lampshade Hanging: Julius Caesar doesn't kill Pullo and Vorenus for not arresting Pompey because "They have powerful gods on their side", noting the extreme unlikeliness of their many exploits as the show's leads.
  • Licensed Game: CDX (UK version) is a point-and-click adventure with full-motion FMV that takes the premise that the lead is a freelance props buyer, after recently working for the BBC on "Rome", has a dagger some very nasty people want. It's surprisingly good.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters. But even with the sizable cast, several important historical characters were left out, such as Scribonia (Octavian's wife before Livia), his daughter Julia, Livia's second son Drusus, Octavia's first husband Claudius Marcellus and her children of that marriage prior to her marriage to Antony. Had the show continued with those people absent, it would have created a lot of problems.
  • Lonely at the Top: Atia.
  • Longest Pregnancy Ever: Eirene tells Pullo of her pregnancy during historical events that occur around 42 B.C. Judging by other historical events, like the betrothal of Octavian and Livia, she is still pregnant in 39 or 38 B.C. This is reportedly due to the necessary rewriting of the last few scripts, see Too Good to Last and Executive Meddling on this page.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: The show just ends when Pullo seems to be about to deliver the line to Caesarion.

Pullo Listen, about your father...

  • Made of Plasticine: The gladiator sequence. The Rule of Cool excuses it, but it's not that easy to sever someone's head when all you're using is a blunt shield.
  • The Mafia: Erastes Fulmen and later Lucius Vorenus lead the collegia, gangs who are the ancient predecessors of the Italian Mafia.
  • Male Frontal Nudity: Antony, Brutus, Pullo and the "turtle slave".
  • Manipulative Bastard: Atia and later Octavian. The usually blunt Antony slides into one with his rabble-rousing Caesar's eulogy.
  • A Man Is Not a Virgin: Atia firmly believes this to be true. Which is why she arranges for Octavian to visit a brothel, so that he can become a real man.

Atia: You will penetrate somebody today or I shall burn your wretched books at the yard.

  • Meaningful Rename: To emphasize that he is the lawful heir to his great uncle, Octavian changes his name to Gaius Caesar. and finally to Caesar Augustus. Noted by Cicero, very wary of the implication.
  • Milking the Giant Cow: The newsreader.
  • Mob War: A major subplot of the second season.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: Standard procedure for resolving romantic complications.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Vorenus is the epitome of this trope.
  • Mythology Gag: ("You too, Mother?") Another rimshot in the fact that Brutus doesn't hear what Caesar was saying as he died.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Memmio, Cilnius Maecenas, Hannibal Cotta, "TITUS FUCKING PULLO".
  • Neutral No Longer: While Cicero is a senator with deep republican convictions he is wise enough to not antagonize the caesarians in public and mantain a moderate status. His position gets untenable when his Arch Enemy Antony becomes the ruler of Rome and forces him into his side. Cicero instead openly confronts and insults Antony and unleashes Octavian against him.
  • Nice Guy: Agrippa in the second season. In a cast of characters including Antony, Octavian, Atia, Servilia, and Vorenus, Agrippa's behavior is chivalrous by comparison, especially if it involves Octavia.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero / Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Several instances
    • A condemnatory but symbolic senate motion against Caesar -only intended to show Caesar his relative isolation, making him less adventurous- becomes violent, is actually passed and after some twists Mark Antony—an inviolable tribune—gets assaulted. That gives a now cornered Caesar a Pretext for War against them. Cue the Civil War.
    • Caesar harbors vague suspicion against Brutus and thus appoints him governor of a far-away province, just in case. Brutus realizes he is practically being exiled, that gives him grounds for his own suspicion and makes him embrace the cause of the conspirators against Caesar: "Only tyrants need fear tyrant killers". The support of Brutus is they key-element to the plot, and until that moment Brutus was on-the fence at best
    • After the demise of Caesar, Brutus stops further killings ("we are liberators not murderers") and spares the life of Antony (who already had escaped an attempt on his life). Days later Antony masterfully manipulates the masses during Caesar's funeral and forces the conspirators to leave the city, Antony becomes the successor of Caesar and sole ruler of Rome.
    • Cicero plays and empowers Octavian against Antony, who is the continuator of Caesar. Octavian lets Cicero think he is just a docile pawn of the Senate but eventually Cicero is outmaneuvered by an Octavian who now as Consul military occupies Rome and the Senate itself, something that Caesar never dared to do..
    • Setting Pompey free leads Vorenus and Pullo to Egypt. The war is prolongued and Pompey is killed by the locals (Caesar often spares his Roman enemies). In Egypt Caesarion ensues. Years later, in the final episode Vorenus is probably mortally wounded while defending Caesarion
  • No Name Given: The newsreader.
  • No Sympathy: When Octavian is taken to the whore house for his first ever boning, he strikes up a conversation with the prostitute. She relates her story of how her father and brothers were killed and she was sold into slavery, eventually ending up working at a whore house in Rome. For a moment Octavian's sympathies appear to be stirred; that is until he starts undoing his belt and telling her to get on her hands and knees. This actually very aptly foreshadows what kind of person he becomes later in the series.
  • Not So Above It All: Lucius Vorenus, though rather than be above the silliness he was above the corruption. Vorenus eventually goes from being a honorable soldier to the Godfather of Rome's criminal underworld.
  • Not So Different: Vorenus and Antony

Vorenus: You're no coward, but you do have a strong disease in your soul. It will eat away at you until you die [...] I recognize the symptoms, I have the same sickness.

  • Not So Stoic : Prophesied by Mark Antony but averted, Vorenus is the only one who does not fall into debauchery in the Egyptian Palace and stays "true roman"

Antony: You won't turn to drink, will you? You stoic types often do when disappointed in life.

  • Not-So-Harmless Villain : At some point, Caesar, Antony and specially Octavian are underestimated or written off as power-players.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Octavian and Caesar hide in a closet during one of Caesar's epileptic attacks. A servant overhears moaning and the two exiting and assumes sex ensued. Atia discovers it and compliments his son for seducing the most powerful man of Rome and becoming a romantical rival to Servilia, her hatred enemy.
  • Odd Friendship / Odd Couple: Octavia and Servilia. Vorenus and Pullo, pointed out by Atia you two make unlikely friends.
  • Officer and a Gentleman: Lucius Vorenus again, it's amazingly funny compared to the dirtbags he serves, who would screw Anything That Moves.
  • One Gaius Limit: Technically, Octavian would have been called "Gaius" by his family and close friends in Real Life. He's always referred to as "Octavian" to avoid confusion with his great uncle. Later he invokes a Meaningful Rename as explained above.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
    • The tactical brilliancy of Caesar is never shown; the conqueror of Gaul wins battle after battle.
    • Antony's speech after Caesar funeral singlehandedly turns the Roman people against the conspirators and installs him as the sole ruler of the city. Only indirect references and reactions are shown.

Antony: I got a bit carried away

  • Offstage Villainy: The actions in the allegation that Cato makes against Caesar in the first episode (illegal warfare, theft, bribery, and treason) have already happen when the series start.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus affects a vaguely middle-class English accent, but you can hear his Scottish coming through a lot, especially when he's angry.
  • The Other Darrin: A mix between types 2 and 3 for Octavian, as he is heard talking off-screen to a reaction shot of Pullo before being revealed. Pullo seems to take a minute to recognize him, and then they move on like nothing happened. Justified as the series covers over 20 years of history, and the original Octavian looked too young to play himself as an adult.
  • Out-Gambitted: Frequent, given the GambitPileups going on. Lampshaded by Cicero:

Cicero: I've been outmaneuvered by a child. To the country then."

  • Papa Wolf: Vorenus
  • Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Posca and Jocasta.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Vorenus seems to frown even when he smiles.
  • The Plan: Julius Caesar engages in one of these, and so does Octavian.
  • A Plague on Both Your Houses: After the death of her son and the extinction of her political cause (partly due to Atia's machinations), Servilia goes to Atia's house with a knife, chants incessantly until Atia comes out to confront her. Then, with the full attention of everybody around, she indulges in a lengthy curse of Atia, damning her to have nothing but "bitterness and despair" for the rest of her life. To seal the deal, she then stabs herself, with her servant following suit. While Atia achieves the goal she's been aiming for the entire series, she finds it's Lonely at the Top.

Antony: Now that is an exit!

This month's public bread is provided by the Capitoline Brotherhood of Millers! The Brotherhood uses only the finest flour! True Roman bread for true Romans.

  • Professional Killer: Vorenus and Pullo become thug enforcers after they are demobilized and without income. Eventually they are required to actually kill people. Vorenus however draws the line at murder and quits.
  • Protagonist Centred Morality: Titus Pullo is a rapist and multiple murderer but is presented as heroic because he is a loyal friend to Vorenus. This is entirely deliberate, since raping the enemy's women was completely normal behavior for Roman legionnaires.
  • The Purge:
    • Antony and Octavian are Genre Savvy rulers; they avert Caesar's mistakes regarding clemency and thus purge a great amount of political enemies. Oh, and in a twisted act of Pragmatic Villainy some men who just happen to be very rich while the rulers have great expenses.
    • In the afermath of Caesar's demise, the conspirators start planning a purge but Brutus succesfully argues that they are "tyrant killers, liberators, not murderers" and the planned whackings are halted.
  • Put on a Bus:
    • Gaulish leader Vercingetorix, who later reappears to be displayed and publicly executed during Caesar's triumph.
    • In Season 2: Timon leaves to live in Jerusalem after he fails to assassinate King Herod.
  • The Queen's Latin
  • Reality Is Unrealistic: Egypt was a Hellenistic country at that time, and at least the royalty and palaces would have looked more like Rome than old Egypt. But it's hard to tell how many viewers would have known that.
    • However, by Cleopatra's time, the Ptolemies had really assimilated to Egyptian culture, and considered themselves Egyptians rather than Greeks. They were big on bringing back a lot of the trappings surrounding traditional Egyptian royalty, going so far as to name themselves Pharaohs and therefore gods.
    • Some nitpicky fan brought up how anachronistic it is for the women have shaved legs. While this easily falls under Acceptable Breaks From Reality, the makers of the show mentioned learning that upper-class women in Rome actually did shave their legs using sharpened seashells.
      • On the DVD commentary, Bruno Heller and historical consultant Jonathan Stamp mention this, only it's walnut shells and they're not talking about her legs.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Spectacularly done by Cicero against Antony. Villainous Breakdown ensues. [3]

Reader: These being the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero: When I was a young man, I defended the State. As an old man, I shall not abandon it. I give sincere thanks to Mark Antony, who has generously presented me with the most promising theme imaginable. I address you directly, Antony. Please listen as if you... as if you... please listen, as if you were sober and intelligent, and not a drink-sodden, sex-addled wreck. You are certainly not without accomplishments: it is a rare man who can boast of becoming a bankrupt before even coming of age. You have brought upon us war, pestilence and destruction. You are Rome's Helen of Troy. But then... but then... a woman's role has always suited you best."

Antony: And I have an angry mob, that will roast and eat your 'men of quality' in the ashes of the Senate House!

  • Rousing Speech: Many
    • Special mention to Julius Caesar's speech just before he marches on the walled capital Rome with only an armed gang. And wins.
    • Brilliantly subverted for Antony's speech after Caesar's funeral (the one that became known as Shakespeare's famed, although entirely fictional, "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech). We see the results of his speech, and even have several characters describe what happened, but none of the actual speech is shown or heard.
  • Royal Brat: Ptolemy XIII, and in the second season, Caesarion. Nothing makes a Royal Brat bigger than telling him he is a god since birth.
  • Rule of Cool: The producers admitted that they ignored Atia's historical date of death because they wanted to keep the darkly awesome character around.
  • Screw the rules, I Have an Army: The characters aggresively use their personal armies to forcefully install themselves as rulers and subvert the constitutional order. Around the times of the series, using an army inside Italy for political purposes was a novelty (Sulla started the precedent only years before and the real life Pompey provides the page quote for the trope) and a great sacrilege, as mentioned by Vorenus and Antony. Enforced over Caesar, as his enemies would make him face jail if he returns to Rome as a normal citizen.
  • Self-Harm: Octavia is seen cutting herself, and later her sleeves are pulled up to show the injuries.
  • Seppuku: Cato
  • Servile Snarker: Posca to Caesar, Gaia to Pullo & Vorenus.
  • Sex as Rite-of-Passage: Atia arranges for Octavian to lose his virginity, so that he can become a man.
  • Sex Slave: In Season 2, Vorenus' daugther among other nameless characters in a slave camp.
  • Shout-Out: After the shipwreck of Lucius and Titus's fleet, the two characters devise a means of escape from their desert island which will be very familiar to anyone who's read Watchmen.
  • Shown Their Work
  • Smug Snake: Atia.
  • Shoot the Messenger: Or, if you're Mark Antony, beat his brains out with the scroll he was reading from.
  • The Starscream: Played with.
    • Subverted: Atia goads an apathetic Antony to betray a campaigning Caesar and seize Rome for himself (herself more like it). Antony thinks about it briefly but is dismayed by the notion, scorns Atia and does the opposite; he gathers new resolution and quickly runs to help Caesar.
    • Under orders from Octavian, Pullo makes a half-hearted attempt to flip Vorenus against Antony. It's a foregone conclusion how that turns out.
  • Stealth Insult: Antony uses one every chance he has. Cicero in a lesser way.
  • Stuffed Into the Fridge: Eirene, though it's possible that she just outlived her narrative usefulness.
  • Suicide By Legionnaire: After all is lost at Philippi, Brutus charges the enemy army all by himself, taking care to take off his armor first.
  • Suicide Pact: Antony and Cleopatra, obviously. The show alters the conventional story a bit, though, by having Cleopatra fake her death off-screen, causing Antony to kill himself for real so she could sell him out to Octavian and save herself. But when she realizes that Octavian is a coldhearted badass who can't be persuaded, she kills herself as well.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Memmio to Erastes Fulmen, with even both characters being played by actors that look very much like each other. A weird example since Erastes Fulmen's "departure" was a natural part of the script, rather than a last minute addition.
  • Sword and Sandal
  • Tactical Withdrawal: Pompey says that he only needs to stomp his feet, and legions would spring up all over Italy. The first thing Pompey does when Caesar crosses the Rubicon river with "only an armed gang" is to run away from Rome.

Cicero: Here we are, refugees in our own land...
Pompey: We are not refugees. We are maneuvering.

Pullo: This is cack, this is! I'm wet through!
Vorenus: We're perfectly safe - a very favorable offering was made to Triton before we left.
Pullo: Well, if Triton can't keep me drier than this, he can suck my cock!
Ship's mast breaks
Vorenus: Pullo, when will you learn to keep your fat mouth shut?!

  • Thanatos Gambit: When Vorenus confronts Erastes Fulmen to find out his children's whereabouts, Erastes tells him that he raped and murdered them, even though he actually sold them into slavery. Vorenus kills him in a fit of rage, and doesn't find out what really happened to his children until much later. Erastes knew that Vorenus would kill him either way, so he lied to prevent him from being able to rescue his children.
  • That's an Order: It has to be pronounced sometimes when the main characters, soldiers, are disinclined towards something. One particularly significative instance when Vorenus is reluctant to give his personal opinion about an insult (You are cowardly scum) to Antony, who has to resort to this phrase and yet they end up sharing a moment of mutual understanding and bonding.
  • Timeshifted Actor: Octavian is played by Max Pirkis as a child and by Simon Woods as a young adult.
  • Tragic Hero: Brutus, so very much.
  • Translation Convention: While everyone speaks English, they denote social class based on which British accent is used.
    • Also, Greek characters, such as Posca, are portrayed as speaking English with a thick Greek accent.
    • In a particularly ironic twist, characters that are meant to sound particularly crude (such as Mark Anthony) sometimes speak Latin.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Lucius Vorenus and Niobe, according to quite a few characters on the show.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Erastes Fulmen to Vorenus, repeatedly. Fulmen shows up with his gang of thugs and tries to intimidate Vorenus on a few occasions; when he finally crosses the line, Vorenus and Pullo kill every last one of them without breaking sweat.
  • Undying Loyalty:
    • Many of the body slaves to their masters.
    • Posca even sticks around after he has been freed.
    • Pullo to Vorenus.
    • Vorenus to whomever he's sworn loyalty to.

Octavian: The man turns loyalty into a vice.

  • The Unfair Sex: Very much averted. There are plenty of ruthless female characters such as Atia, Servilia, Gaia and Cleopatra and even the more sympathetic women like Niobe and Octavia do some highly questionable things
  • Unstoppable Rage: Pullo and Vorenus, more than once. But the stand-out example is when Vorenus slaughters Erastes Fulmen's entire gang.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The series is quite loose on many aspects of history. Some of them are forgiveable for the sake of dramatic/artistic license, but others are questionable. It may work better if you think of the series as a sort of "Rome, as seen by Romans." There are all sorts of oddities in their interpretation of other cultures (the wild German cavalrymen, the long-haired Gauls, the dark, effeminate Egyptians) but it is entirely possible to look at these oddities as a dramatization of "Roman Stereotypes."
    • The real Atia, besides being a dull Roman matron, died one year after Caesar and thus shouldn't have been around for the second season. Brutus did not suicidally charge the enemy at Phillipi, but rather had a slave kill him.
  • Viewers are Morons: Done in-universe
  • The Voiceless: A viewer could be forgiven for thinking Vorenus' younger daughter is totally mute. She makes only the slightest of sounds on very rare occasions.
    • Word of God from the DVD commentary is the actress who played her the longest was Italian and refused to learn English lines phonetically. Rather than argue with a little kid, they simply cut out her dialogue and even Lampshaded it later.

Pullo: She still doesn't say much, but she can give such a look . . .

  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Brutus, his only goal is the preservation of a sacred Republic started by an ancient kin. He reluctantly joins politics and the plot to kill Caesar when he realizes that Caesar may be a threat to the constitutional order. Once Caesar is gone he stops further violence "we are tyrant killers, liberators, not murderers" and spares Antony, an action that turns against him when Antony manages to continue the legacy of Caesar and in the end he has to exile with the rest of the conspirators and embark in another civil war.
  • We Named the Monkey "Jack": When Vorenus brings home the one little boy who survived the wasting disease that killed the rest of his slaves, the girls coo over him and one of them says, "We'll call him Rubio after my pigeon that died."
  • We Used to Be Friends: Caesar and Pompey the Great were very close associates during the First Triumvirate, when the series start that falls appart as Pompey's wife, daughter of Caesar dies and the Senate seduces Pompey against Caesar. Slightly hinted during the show, they share a mutual respect at first and Caesar is deeply affected by Pompey's fate.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
  • With Due Respect: Posca to Mark Antony when he threatens to forcefully move Calpurnia from Rome:

Posca: With all respect, sir, but until the will is ratified I am bound to serve the Julii and I must request that you not forcibly remove my mistress. With all respect

  • Wise Beyond Their Years: Octavian.
  • Woman Scorned: A pileup here, as usual.
    • Calpurnia, threatens Caesar with divorce if he doesn't end his relation with Servilia. Caesar complies as he needs her family political influence and money.
    • Servilia, she sets in motion the plot to assassinate Caesar purely out of spite from being rejected by him.
    • Atia, oh gerrae! Atia. All of the above happens thanks to her machinations. Plus humilliating her is Antony's final mistake, as after that she begs Octavian to destroy him. By the end of the series she is maneuvering against her daughter-in-law; from Atia's point of view the wife of her little boy Octavian / Augustus is just an intolerable usurper to the "First Lady of Rome" dignity.

Atia: I don't give a fuck what the priests say. I'll not let a vicious little trollop like you walk ahead of me. I go first. [...] I know who you are. I can see you. You're swearing now that someday you'll destroy me. Remember, far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go and look for them now.

  • Worthy Opponent: Pompey, Cicero, sensible and reasonable men. Caesar, of noble-birth is one as well for the senatorial-patrician side, despite the fact that they hate him and would never give him any credit. Previous dictators like Sulla were very ruthless as opposed to Caesar.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess:
    • Octavian's preferred method of political action.
    • In the aftermath of Caesar's death, his heirs Octavian and Mark Antony become enemies over time. When Antony steps all over the Senate and takes his legions north to seize Gaul for himself, Octavian joins forces with the Senate (run by sympathizers of Caesar's murderers) to crush Antony's rebellion. Antony is defeated, but Octavian turns on his allies by using his new position of Consul to take control of the Senate and make Rome his own dictatorship. As Brutus begins marching on Rome, he allies with Antony once again, because it's the only way they can survive. After winning the battle, Octavian and Antony are now joint dictators of Rome. But Octavian then blackmails Antony into leaving Rome and taking up his seat of power in Egypt. Over the years, Antony and Cleopatra provoke him into declaring war, which he does. He wins this war, and ends up as the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.
  • You Have to Have Jews: the Jewish community in Rome gets a fair share of screentime.
  • You Just Told Me: Used several times, first by Atia to expose Octavia's relationship to Agrippa, and by an Egyptian guard to expose an undercover Caesarion.
  • You Should Know This Already: Julius Caesar dies. Antony and Cleopatra hook up, but it doesn't end well.
  • Your Cheating Heart: Adultery is quite common in ancient Rome but still there are some relevant ones plotwise; Niobe, Caesar and Antony among others.
  1. ↑ Brutus' actor visibly tries hard not to laugh and stay in character
  2. ↑ And in a metasubversion nothing is staged or shown, Discretion Shot etc... with HBO anything goes but even them have standards.
  3. ↑ The Real Life Cicero dedicated 14 speechs against Antony, the Philipicae
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