A.D. (1985–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Part 2 - full transcript
- [Woman] Come in.
- Shalom.
- Your wine.- Thank you.
(muttering quietly to self)
- Shalom.
- [Man Black Beard] Shalom.
- You're from Jerusalem?
- Yes, just arrived in Samaria.
- What news in Jerusalem?
- Persecution of the Nazarenes.
- By the Romans?
- By one Roman, but he's also a Jew.
- Saul of Tarsus.
- You know him?
- He was hot against the Nazarenes,
now he's persecuting them.
Well,
do you know a man named Stephen?
- I knew a man named Stephen.
- Knew? You say knew?
- Stephen is dead.
He was stoned to death
for being a Nazarene.
- Saul did this?
- Yes.
You could say that.
- Stephen.
And Stephen's family, what's
happened to Stephen's family?
- He only had his mother,
they could find no fault in her.
Not like the sisters of the
zealot who was condemned
but escaped during the feast of Pentecost.
- What's become of my sisters?
- So you are the man?
- Caleb. What's happened to them?
- Soldiers took them to Pontius Pilate.
Pilate sent them as a
gift to his friend Sejanus
along with camels and horses and--
- My doing.
- Don't blame yourself for Roman cruelty.
- I should have thought.
And my mother?
- I heard something from Stephen,
about the mother of Caleb being dead
and very quietly buried.
You blame yourself for that too?
I also heard that you're
work went on here in Samaria.
- It was good work.
Did they know in Jerusalem
who led the rising in Samaria?
- Jewish names mean very
little to the Romans.
But I should think that
you're name meant something.
A name that Pilate broods over
on his voyage back to Rome.
- Pilate's no longer in Judea?
- He was recalled.
He made too big a mistake when he ordered
the massacre of the
Samaritans on Mount Gerizim.
- So who's ruling now in Judea?
- In Jerusalem there was talk
of setting up a client prince
Herod Agrippa but now
there's talk of a new
Roman procurator on his way.
- I dream sometimes of going to Rome
and striking at the heart.
- You Zealots are mad.
You want to go to Rome with
a dagger under your belt.
Strike at the heart?
Stephen's way was better.
- Stephen got himself killed.
You Nazarenes will achieve nothing.
I will go to Rome.
(rain falling)
(people chatting)
(easy music)
- Sarah!
Sarah!
We met here the first time, remember?
That was a sunny day.
Are you cold?
- I'm always cold.
Rome is cold.
- I'm happy to be with you again.
- Why?
- Did you forget?
- To forget, one must remember.
I do not want to remember.
- You mean you never thought of me?
- No, I've tried to
keep you out of my mind.
- I did the same.
I didn't succeed.
- It's not meant to be,
we're so far apart.
- Things will change, I promise.
You will leave your service.
- To go and serve another master?
- Give me time.
- I cannot give you what
is not mine to give.
And I should not see you anymore.
- Because I'm a Roman?
I was given no choice.
The Gods decided for me.
- You chose to be a soldier.
- I followed my father,
it's a family tradition.
- You carry a sword,
you believe in its power.
My brother does, too.
He was fighting you Romans when he left.
We were punished in his stead.
- I have never used my
sword against your people.
I often doubt its power.
- One day you could be
called to use it against us.
What would you do then?
- Then I would have to choose.
I don't know.
What I do know is that
I couldn't hurt you.
- That will be dangerous for you.
You too are a slave and
Rome is your master.
- Rome is like a mother to Romans.
I can speak my mind with
her, tell her the truth.
- Truth?
- About what I feel.
Being born a Roman means
to have freedom in life.
- It was for me too being born a Jew,
until your procurator
turned it into a lie.
Nothing can change it.
- Suppose you love me,
this will change it.
- How?
- My freedom would be yours.
- You want me to belong to you?
- I mean that the two of us should
have a chance to find our own way.
- The Jewess and the Roman soldier.
- A woman and a man.
My being a Roman, your being a Jew,
I know people may find this a difference
that cannot be reconciled.
To me,
it's just like this rain.
Forgettable.
- I'll try to remember.
(shouting)
- [Man] All of them!
They're all Nazarenes.
(shouting)
- Putting down the followers of the man
from Nazareth comes into that category,
they're trouble makers.
The Nazarenes have to be subdued,
then the tranquillity of Judea will
be acceptable even to the Romans.
- Unfortunately the new
procurator Marcellus
doesn't see it that way, he sees Saul
and his little army as
the real trouble makers.
After all they spill blood.
Saul must be stopped.
- Thank God for that.
- And yet he is doing good work.
- Then perhaps we must send him to
do his good work somewhere else.
- What about Samaria?
- Samaria's too near.
Damascus would be better,
and we shall watch over him.
Seth will accompany him.
- There are a lot of Jews in Damascus who
God help us have forsaken the true way.
- He will take a lot of persuading.
- Damascus of course is under Roman rule.
- Let the Jews of Damascus come under our
protection and jurisdiction.
They must be saved from themselves.
- By having their blood spilled?
- That will not be necessary.
I have faith in Saul's
power of persuasion.
His way is a good way.
- Pitiless.
Hardly good.
(horses snort)
(dramatic music)
- [Man] Whoa, whoa.
Steady, steady.
They're falling behind.
He's taken a stone.
- Your hearts don't seem
to be in this mission.
- Nothing to do with heart.
It's a matter of horses.
- We're still nearer to Jerusalem than
we are to Damascus aren't we, Seth?
- By my reckoning.
- Very well, you three may go back,
rest.
Take your time. Be kind to your horses.
(wind blowing)
- Farewell.
(horses snort)
(loud thunderous wind)
(horses galloping)
- Saul?
Saul!
Your eyes.
Saul?
Saul?
Saul what's happened?
Can you see?
Saul?
Saul, what's happened,
you're burning with fever.
- Your hand.
- What?
- He has brought the night on me.
You must lead me, Seth.
- Back to Jerusalem?
- To Damascus.
- Are you sure?
- Damascus.
(easy music)
- Hold on to me.
Careful, step.
Another step.
Damascus at last.
(animals grunting)
The house of--
- Judas. In a street that is straight.
- Does he expect us?
- A Jerusalem man with lodgings for
Jerusalem men.
What is this city like?
- Like any other city.
Can you tell me yet?
- You heard the voice.
- I heard only thunder.
- Twas his voice.
The Lord.
He said,
"Saul,
"Saul,
"why do you persecute me?"
"We're all by nature children of Anga.
No more.
I will persecute no longer.
You may go back to Jerusalem, Seth.
- Do we know our work is over?
- My work?
You are your own man.
- No.
No I'll stay with you.
No more persecuting of the Nazarenes.
- I happened to have become one of them.
Do you remember the name
of their leader here?
- Ananias?
The one they call the asin?
A recent comfort they say?
- Find him.
Bring him to me.
Tell him
I've a change of heart.
- Will you not take some
food before you see him?
Three days fasting is a long time.
- I may not eat.
- [Seth] You're weak,
you can hardly stand.
Just a little bread?
- I must take water first.
- I'll bring you water.
- No.
No I meant in another sense.
I am ready Ananias.
- I baptize you, Saul,
in the name of Jesus
to the remission of your sins and in
the fullness of the
grace of the most high.
- Saul no longer.
Saul is the name of another man.
Now dead.
I am Paul.
(birds chirping)
- [Caligula] What is it with you,
why do you keep trailing after me?
I don't need protection.
- Be patient Gaius Caligula, please.
May I remind you of your promise?
- My promise? Which promise?
I'm thinking about realities now.
- It is about one of your sister's slaves.
- A slave?
Hannan?
- It's a girl, Caesar.
- Oh it's a girl?
And beautiful too I suppose?
Well.
The master does at least have the right
to take a look at a beautiful slave
before giving him up, uh her up.
We will discuss this later.
All these Gods...
You know what the Jews believe?
- No, Caesar.
- That's there's only one God.
Cleaver people, the Jews.
I tell you what I want you to do.
- What Caesar?
- I want you to cut their heads off.
All of them.
- Cut their heads off?
- And put mine there.
Mine.
- Even on (mumbles) Venus, Minerva, Diana?
- Mine.
Well for those you can put more hair.
More hair.
- I see now what should have
been obvious but was not.
I was chosen for zeal not virtue.
God's ways are dark.
- Yet they seem to have
led you to light, Paul.
- And so.
- You would work here?
- I have studied and learned,
but I chose to hate
before I learned to love.
My knowledge of love is
insufficient.
Am I fit to teach in the name of Jesus?
- Very often the words
come out of mouth unbidden.
Only when I've spoken the
words do I see what they mean?
Yes.
Teach in our synagogues.
Tell them your story.
- [Man] Let your heart speak.
They will listen.
- I can't believe it.
I imprisoned.
I whipped.
I stoned.
I put to death the followers
of the Christ yet all the time.
Like yeast fermenting in the dark.
The grace was lurking within me,
unwanted.
Unbidden.
In a thunder flash,
the revelation came not in a pale dawn,
but in a new day (mumbles).
- [Man] A what?
- I was a horse, disdainful of its rider.
Kicking against the whip.
Now I sudden it to the horseman.
- You! Saul of Tarsus.
Known to all here and
referred as the scourge
of blasphemy and falsehood,
were to come to Damascus
to the joy of the faithful
that the Heretic and infidel might be
cut off from the house of Israel,
now your revealed as worthy
yourself to be seized.
(all talking loudly)
Judged,
and punished.
(all exclaim)
- But may not a man change?
Is it forbidden for the light to enter?
What I was, I was,
what I am, you see.
A man reborn.
We fashioned, even renamed.
I know that my redeemer lives
and I know the name of my redeemer.
Jesus.
The anointed true son of
the everlasting killed
but come back to life.
With his blood he washed away our sins.
By dying, he closed the road to death.
A wonder beyond all times.
Life for all because one died.
Believe as I believe.
- Get out!
Get out of Damascus!
You shame our faith!
You defile the house of the Lord.
(all shouting angrily)
(bright music)
(people talking amongst themselves)
(bright music)
(bright music)
(children laughing)
(bright music)
(loud clanging)
(people chatting quietly)
- Good Vestal.
Wait!
Good Vestal listen to me! Wait!
In the name of Vesta, your Goddess.
Help me.
Help me.
Save me from the axe.
I'm innocent, innocent I swear.
Good Vestal, save me.
You can save me if you want to.
Look at me.
- Free him.
And you.
Thank the goddess Vesta who allows you
to keep your head upon your shoulders.
Go!
- [Man In Crowd] Congratulations.
(people chatting)
(bright music)
- [Man In Crowd] Oh look, the soldiers.
(people chatting)
(drumming music)
(people clapping)
- Roman legions.
A glorious sight huh?
A Jew, you're a Jew?
- My people, where can I find them?
- All over.
But wait, there's a
tent maker called Aquila
who lives nearby, in the
street of the 10 shops.
Ask procular, they all know him.
- Shalom.
Peace be with you.
- Peace?
- The Lord be praised.
He's given us bread and
the fruits of the earth.
Welcome to our house my new friend.
Roman wine, (mumbling) they call it.
It's robust but cheap,
it'll warm your blood.
She's a good cook my Priscilla.
She spoils me.
- He deserves it.
Besides, he's easy to please.
- So much for my praising her.
Now we were never happy,
but she makes me happy.
- I'm grateful to both of you.
- The Lord wants us to help one another.
So.
You finally made it to Rome.
You've come a long way.
- Longer than I expected and hard.
- I could use an extra
pair of hands when I work.
Why don't you stay with us and help me?
- Making tents.
It's not difficult.
You will soon learn.
- I'd rather keep faith to my trade.
I know how to handle a sword.
I'd like to join a gladiator school.
You'll have to make sacrifice to the Gods.
- I've learned how to
pretend, that's how I survive.
- If you think that you'll
ever get a chance to
use your sword to free
your sisters you're wrong.
A gladiator is little more than a slave.
- Yes but a slave in arms.
- Few gladiators survive their trials.
People always want new excitements.
The more victories you collect,
the harder your competition will become.
- I'm not afraid.
Knowing my life is in danger makes
me bare my humiliation better.
I want to pay for me cowardice.
- You a coward?
- I should be in my land where my
brothers fight and die every day.
I feel my being alive's a sin.
- Life is God's gift, never a sin.
We'll try to help you find your sisters.
Where to begin?
- Pilate sent them as gifts
to Sejanus, that's all I know.
- That was long ago.
All that Sejanus owned became
the property of Caligula.
It'll be difficult but
we'll try and find them.
So what's the news from Jerusalem?
- I bring old news.
You forget I'll been away years.
Wherever I met Jewish travellers on
the way was the same old story.
Sadducees, farasies.
- Zealots.
- What is it?
- A fish.
- That I can see.
You're no fisherman.
- A Greek brother
visited us and carved it.
A coincident he said.
(clears throat)
The Greek word for fish is ichthys.
Each letter is the
initial for other words.
(speaks Greek words)
Jesus Christ son of God, the saviour.
- So the man from Nazareth is a fish?
Strange.
A fish that caught fisherman.
Are you one of his followers?
- No.
Were there many of them
when you left Judea?
- Too many.
They doctrine is contagious.
How do you know of them?
- The man who left this sign,
he came to Rome from Damascus.
He brought the good news,
he told us of Jesus of Nazareth and
of what he preached and Judea and Galilee.
- A mad man. Romans nailed him to a cross.
- This man said he rose from death.
- His tomb was found empty, his followers
must have taken the body away.
Anyways, it was good enough to fool the Romans.
What happened to this man from Damascus?
- He was very old, he died last winter.
Many people believed his words,
or the words he said were Jesus' own.
The followers of Jesus grow in number.
The wife of a Senator's even joined them.
- You seem to know a lot about them.
- I envy them, their faith.
- I remember the last
time that man spoke to us.
He told us about Jesus.
Healing cripples, and a blind man.
- There're all blind until we
find the true light he said.
He left us that evening as if he knew
there would be no more days for him.
"Remember," he said,
"soon it will be night
"and we shall all be
questioned about love."
- Well done.
Come forth.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
You are?
- Metellus, a novice.
- Metellus?
A novice.
Yes.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
Yes, you'll try as a retiarius.
You seem skilled enough
to fight for the net,
yes?
Come, prepare yourself.
Help him change.
Strip.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
You're in the school now.
Remember, this is our family.
I see.
Metellus.
You are Metellus. I am Julius Caesar.
Jew, aren't you?
Hm.
Well we're no respecters of persons here.
Let's see what you can do, retiarius.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
- [Caleb] That one looks strong.
- Yes, you can learn something from him.
Stop!
I have a new match for you.
Begin.
(dramatic loud drumming music)
(swords clanking)
(grunting)
Hold that net tighter.
(grunting)
Don't drop that shield.
Higher! Higher!
(laughs)
That's enough for today.
(laughs)
(people chatting)
- Waiting for me?
- Just resting,
and waiting.
Forgive me.
I did not know that a woman
could train as a gladiator.
Are you a slave?
- Only of fear.
I'm learning to defend myself.
- You have no one to fight for you?
- No one brave enough.
My name is Corinna. What's yours?
- Metellus.
- Here!
- Caleb! It's Caleb!
(dramatic adventurous music)
- [Man] So it has arrived.
Statue of our divine Caligula.
What do I do Cornelius?
- Tempurus, delay.
Not a ship's responsibility.
A true art of the ruler.
On the other hand if you
want a general massacre
on both sides obey the man,
or God as he thinks he is.
I needn't point out to you the
utter blasphemy of this business.
- Blasphemy, I hear that word
all the time from the Jews.
I don't understand it.
Perhaps I've had the
wrong sort of education.
If they believe in one God, then why can't
the image of this one God
stand in their damn temple.
- Yes the wrong sort of education.
You mean they should pretend
that the image of the deified
Gaius Caligula is really
the image of their only God?
A God that has no images?
- I understood that according
to this new Jewish sect
God had turned himself into a man.
A slave called Chrestus.
- It's like confusion there, procurator.
Chrestus, I grant it's
common a name among slaves.
What does it mean?
Cheerful, useful, helpful?
The name you mean is Chrestus
and that's attached to
a man who is not a slave
but a son of the royal house
of David, Jesus of Nazareth.
This follows a good Nazarenes.
Chrestus means anointed
with sacred or like a king.
They call him the king
of the Jews, the messiah.
- I must remember to
stop seeking information
from you Cornelius,
you give me far too much.
But I will take your advice.
The divine Caligula had better
go into temporary storage.
I've got enough trouble with these
damn Jews and their unholy temple.
You've also given me an idea.
Rome shall be told that this whole matter
had be entrusted to our higher authority,
to Publius, governor of Syria.
(laughs)
Let him deal with it.
(dramatic music)
- [Man] You there! Careful!
(dramatic music)
- Execute them, Macro.
The time has come for
us to conquer Britannia.
Subdue the pagan Britains and I say
that we lack the gold that will
enable us finance our invasion.
So, now what is the opinion
of our omnipotent prefect?
- Caesar's proposal is unacceptable.
- It is acceptable to
Caesar and that's enough,
Caesar needs money!
- Nevertheless,
it would be unjustifiable
and even dangerous
to arbitrarily execute Roman patricians
in order that their estates may be seized.
- It will not be arbitrary if
you fasten crimes onto them.
Perfectly standard practice isn't it?
See to it, Macro.
- No!
With respect, Caius Caesar,
why don't you sell something.
You can use a worthy
example by auctioning off
some of the imperial commodities.
You personally own a number of
estates, slaves, vineyards...
- What I own is Rome's property.
Are you suggesting that
I should steal from Rome?
I who have always been so munificent.
I will sell my sisters' properties,
lands, slaves, everything.
- Good.
- But that will take time.
- Perhaps you should
postpone the invasion.
- The land alone will
finance the invasion.
The rest will pay for
my triumphant return.
- Very good Caesar.
Is that all?
- No, Macro, it is not all.
You've seized to be of
service to me, Macro.
I'm tired of having to think for you.
I want you to go away.
Leave your office and Rome and
go somewhere very far away.
Mauritania perhaps.
No.
Egypt.
Egypt for you.
- You--- Go. Now.
If indeed he ever leaves his native
(music drowns out speech).
(easy music)
- What happened to you,
little bird? You're ill.
You hardly move your wings.
(wailing)
- [Woman] He's wasting his time.
He's possessed.
(mumbling)
- I command you in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to depart
from the body of this man.
Go!
And torment him no more.
(wailing)
(gasp)
- [Guard] Clear the street.
- Be well.
- [Guard] Out.
Out, you move.
Now, move.
- [Peter] Come quickly.
- [Guard] All of you.
Move. Away. Move.
- [Man] Another miracle!
- Beware of that word, Simon.
Call it the victory of faith.
We did nothing, the
grace of God did it all.
- But the power is in you,
and Philip and John, it's a kind of magic.
- What do you mean by magic?
- The power to change things that are
not changed by the course of nature.
I once had the appearance myself,
I called it magic but
it was only trickery.
(laughs)
I learned it in Alexandria.
- We learned this nowhere.
The power is not in us.
The power is in God.
- I would like that power.
- Why, Simon?
Why would you like that power?
- To, uh, do good in the world?
To show the world I'm one of
God's favourite people, like you.
- For your own glory?
- I did not say that.
I do not mean it.
I learned to follow the Christ and
abjure this Egyptian trickery.
But now I am no longer Simon the magician.
I have no skill.
You have a skill and a precious one,
I would like that skill.
- Curing the sick, healing
the lame and the blind,
these are nothing Simon.
They are but sparks out of
the flames of faith in God.
They show us God's power, yes,
but it's more important that we
should learn of God's mercy.
- Give me the power, I can pay for it.
(laughs)
I can pay well.
I made much gold and silver
out of doping the people.
Now that money can go to
you to do with as you will.
But in exchange I ask that
you give me the power.
You've understood nothing.
Nothing at all of our mission,
of the faith that we teach.
You would buy God's grace,
God's power, God's mercy.
- I only wish to do
good, to cure the sick,
to bring the dead to life.
- To your own honour and glory.
- The power is in your
hands, I've seen you
so often lay those hands
upon the afflicted.
I wish to the glory of God to
have that power in my own hands.
I can pay well, a thousand sestertius.
Two thousand.
- Damned is your money.
And damned are you too unless
you repent of this wickedness.
- Wickedness?
What wickedness?
- You do not perceive wickedness.
There is as much wickedness in wilful
ignorance as in wilful sin.
Sin is a kind of ignorance as
ignorance is a kind of sin.
- But you told me the Christ
himself made a bargain
with God, he sold his life on the cross,
he bought our redemption,
the whole of life is
buying and selling, therefore
I say sell me the power.
- We thank you for the
hospitality of your house.
- I can beat you at this
miracle game anytime.
It's only trickery do you hear me?
- I think Samaria can look after itself.
Back to Jerusalem.
- Together?
- No not together.
That wastes our resources.
There are Samaritan villages
to visit on the way.
You Philip, ought to go to Gaza.
- Saul, will be waiting for us back home.
- I hear different news from Damascus.
- I don't speak as a Nazarene
because I'm not a Nazarene,
at least not yet.
But I take it you still
regard me as a friend.
- Friend and brother.
And you're concerned for my life,
well, I'm also concerned for it.
I have much to do and I start late.
But the cause isn't helped
by a show of cowardice.
- Paul, the streets
are dangerous at night.
It's pure madness to venture out.
- They've asked for me haven't they.
A fellow Nazarene lays
dying, in need of my words.
Am I to sulk here because of
a few hot heads with daggers?
Besides, I have a body guard, don't I?
I'm going.
- [Man] Paul, listen,
wait!
- That's him.
That's Paul.
(all yelling)
- [Seth] Paul, go!
Run, Paul.- We must help him.
(dramatic music)
(grunting)
- [Man] Come! Come away!
- [Man] Escape.
Hurry!
- He is led as a lamb to slaughter.
And as a lamb before
his shearer he is dumb
and so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation his
judgement is taken away.
Who would declare his generation?
For his life has been
taken away from the earth.
(horses clattering on)
Wait, wait, that man.
Will you... Wait. Stop, stop.
Stop, stop, stop.
- Shalom.
- Will you ride with me?
- You're very kind.
- Yeah, come, come.
You're from Jerusalem.
Are you comfortable?
Good, good.
I suppose you could
call me one sympathetic
with the Jewish scriptures like my queen.
- Our Candace of Ethiopia. Yes.
Your office is higher I can see.
- I am state treasurer.
As a state treasurer we
are expected to carry
part of the treasury right on our backs.
(laughs)
Whenever we travel that is.
(laughs)
But when I'm at home I
dress much more civilly.
I call myself a simple man.
Also a reading man.
My personal treasury is my books.
But there's still, as such a simple man
there's still things I
do not quite understand.
Like your Hebrew scriptures for instance.
These, these.
- The prophet Isaiah, yes.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.
- Who?
Who's led as a lamb to slaughter?
Who does Isaiah mean,
himself or someone else?
- Somebody else.
- Who, who?
- It will take rather long to tell.
We have time.
Look around, nothing but desert.
(laughs)
We got time, you tell me.
- It had happened as the
prophet had announced.
A maiden will conceive
and give birth to a son
and they will name him Emmanuel,
meaning God is with us.
And Isaiah said, "A voice
cries in the wilderness,
"prepare away for the Lord.
"Make his path straight."
And John the Baptist
appeared in the desert.
Baptizing people with
the life giving water
as Jesus asked us to do.
- You want me to go in the water?
- Will you?
I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ.
(water trickles)
(easy music)
- [Man] Caesar, Philo of Alexandria
and his Jewish delegation asked to
be heard about your statue in Jerusalem.
- Try it on um,
on Jupiter.
- This traditional
concept of a single God,
not of many Gods,
Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Saturn and the rest.
Well Caesar, it has long been
accepted by the Roman state
that the Jewish tradition
is to be respected
even if Alexandria and Judea
are part of the Roman Empire.
- Only the Emperor exacts respect.
Your God, the God of
my friend Herod Agrippa
is merely tolerated.
It's bizarre, exotic,
amusing,
it adds its own colour to the
glorious patchwork of our Empire.
Has even taught something to our Empire,
this very notion of one God,
God is the Emperor, the Emperor is God.
What could be more satisfying?
- It is not very satisfying to the Jews.
Our God to us is unborn.
Undying.
Immortal.
Even the Emperor must die.
- The Emperor is God, God is the Emperor.
Ergo, I'm immortal.
Don't you speak to me of my death.
- No, I beg Caesar's pardon.
Let me confine my petition to this.
Do not we beg for the
sake of the tranquillity
of your Palestinian possessions
insist that your statue be installed
in the holy temple of Jerusalem.
- It has already been installed to the
great satisfaction of the Jewish people.
Now they can see their God.
Now they have a solidity to bow down to.
- I would be shaming the faith
of our fathers if I said,
"Yes Caesar, that is so."
But it is not so.
Your procurator Marcellus
is a man of good sense.
And a credit to Caesar's capacity
for choosing good administrators.
- I did not choose him, the
Emperor Tiberius chose him.
Has he disobeyed our orders?
- He has very wisely delayed to obey them,
but now the envoys from
Rome on their annual
visit to Judea have urged
immediate compliance.
This may lead to unfortunate events,
even a revolt.
- Why have I not been told of this?
Why are things kept from me?
- To conclude your procurator Marcellus
may be forced to order that your statue,
we beg of you to have the order rescinded.
- Get out of here you
rioters, unwashed Jews.
I shall be rid of your
friendly procurator.
I shall have him recalled and punished.
We will instruct Publius,
our governor in Syria,
to carry out this order without delay,
and open his veins should he fail.
I also have a mind to give you a new king.
Herod Agrippa, when he
returns to Jerusalem
my image will greet him in your temple
and the people will worship it according
to the sacred imperial rights.
Now get your superstition out of here.
- With respect Caesar,
in our tradition there is
no room for superstition.
- Out!
- We Jews do not practice magic.
- Out!
- Nor do we resort to violence.
- Out!
Out!
Out!
(shouting)
- [Man] There is no place for Caesar here.
(people shouting angrily)
(people shouting angrily)
- [Man] Close them.
- [Man] Ezra!
Ezra, wait!
(donkey squealing)
- Joseph Barnabas!
- I must go.
- Has no news came from Damascus?
- It is not news easy to believe.
- Nevertheless,
you must believe it.
Will you take me to the brethren?
Barnabas,
I am alone.
I'm unarmed.
- Saul...
We heard talk of your sudden conversion
but it's hard to accept.
A man doesn't change from a hater of
the faith to a preacher of the faith,
not like that, not overnight.
- It was much less than
overnight, Barnabas.
Your faith told you to believe
in miracles, does it not?
You see a man, totally changed,
even my name has changed.
- We heard that, too.
Paul.
- I am one of you, help me.
- Come along quickly.
- What I don't understand is this.
If you're so frightened of arrest
and retribution and all the rest of it,
why have you come back to Jerusalem?
You know we're in hiding.
- I came back for instructions.
- Well that's honest anyway.
Tell the chief priest you're pretending
to be a Nazarene and what
do I do now your holiness
oh yes, very, very clever.
- Don't be a fool, Thomas.
He means instructions from us.
- From Jesus who lives among us.
- Jesus, who spoke to me,
and blinded me.
And made me see.
You're the one they call his brother.
- James the just.
- I know this is a
sudden change.
I am still an instrument
but now for other hands.
What do you want me to do?
- What I say to you, Saul--
- Paul.
- Paul.
Is that you should get away from here,
think things over.
- Oh I've thought things over,
or should I say it was done for me.
- You're no use dead.
It's dead you'll be if you stay here.
Now get home, you'll be safe there.
- Home?
Tarsus.
- Yeah back to your father and your mother
and your books and your
tent making, meditate.
Prepare yourself better.
You can take ship from Caesarea.
Barnabas and Thomas...
- Not me.
- Barnabas and James will go
with you as far as the port.
You have money?
- Enough.
When do I come back to Jerusalem?
- I don't know.
Perhaps never.
You're a travelling man.
You're young enough and strong enough
for the big journeys.
Some of us here are getting too old.
You'll have much to do.
Go with the Lord.
(light music)
Go in peace.
(laughter)
(chatting happily)
- They want you to fight in Pompeii.
There will be dangerous men there.
When are you leaving?
- Zephaniah said that I should be
in Pompeii by the end of the week.
They're staging these games to
celebrate Caligula's future victories.
- Mockery after mockery.
Don't get hurt.
I find it easier to train my limbs
for a man's game than my heart.
I can fight you in the arena Caleb,
with the mad hope of winning one day,
but when I am alone with you...
- I am little more than a slave.
You're a patrician.
- I was no more than a
slave to be sacrificed
at a banquet in Caligula's palace.
Fortune was with me.
Another slave girl was nearly killed.
- Speak of my nightmares.
I often dream of my sisters
being beaten, killed.
- You haven't been able to find them?
- Aquila, my good friend
is still helping me.
He doesn't give up easily.
He lives by faith.
- Where does he think
your sisters could be?
- Anywhere.
In a palace or the country
villa of some rich senator.
Sarah and Ruth.
They're both so young.
And beautiful.
A special beauty some of our girls are.
- Am I beautiful?
- Your different.
Your beauty is different.
You are not my sister.
- Juno be praised.
I happen to like you.
- Recess is over. Back to training.
(clapping)
Let's go, back to work.
- You returned to Tarsus to tell me this?
I cannot believe it.
I will not.
- You must.
And you must be reconciled to it.
Things change.
God ordained it.
The Empire, broken from within.
The Jewish law torn by
the turmoil of sects
with their different interpretations.
- Heresy. Double heresy.
- Don't talk to me of heresy, father.
You mingle with the Roman pagans.
- I show no more than respect.
I remain a good Jew and a good citizen.
- So do I.
But I accept the messiah.
I have too much respect for Roman order
to wish to see it
collapse under a mad man.
- You speak of the Emperor?
- I acknowledge only
one master now, father.
I abjure the world's madness
whether of Gaius Caligula
or of Saul of Tarsus, your son.
- To abandon your own name?
The name you answered to when you were
called up to read from the Torah?
Oh Saul.
Saul, you must know there's
no room for you here.
- I expected that.
- Disinherited and disowned.
Your grandfather was honoured
with Roman citizenship.
I served the tradition of our fathers when
the very first dad could recite
the verses from the Torah.
A good Jew and a good
Roman gets his reward.
And you will get yours someday.
The headman's axe or the stones of the mob
or the shame of the cross.
- Not shame.
Don't talk of shame.
(dramatic music)
- Britannia, Britannia, Britannia.
I wonder what the natives call it.
- There's no one name Marcus.
Each tribe has its own little region
which it thinks to be the big world.
- Now the real big world rushes in.
- The Roman eagle spreads its wings.
- [Both] Till it splits its. (laughter)
- This is known as building an Empire.
And this, this Valerius is the last part.
(wind drowns out speech)
But what do we bring?
- Law and order.
Roads, temples.
- And the worship of the divine Caligula.
Slaves, tribute.
- Gold and copper.
For a finish that
depleted coppers of Rome.
Britannia.
As a cure for insolvency.
(trumpets playing)
- We better take post.
(trumpet plays)
(horses galloping)
(dramatic music)
- [Man] Hail, Caesar.
- [Man Hail, Caesar.
- [Man] Hail, Caesar.
- [Man] Hail Caesar.
- [Man] Hail, Caesar.
- [Man] Hail Caesar.
(drumming)
(drumming)
- Soldiers of the Empire,
your brave hearts and fine bodies
have reached the northern
shore of the province of Gaul.
From here you will embark and
sail to the shores of Britannia.
Britannia will fall to us and be ours.
- [All] Hail Caesar!
- This is a solemn occasion.
The last province of the Roman
Empire awaits our acquisition.
- [All] Hail Caesar.
- But first,
there is an important thing
that I wish you to do.
These shells spread all along the shore
are the spoils of the ocean.
They are Roman property and as such
they must be returned to Rome.
Gather them.
Put down your arms and gather them.
- [Cassius] All of them Caesar.
- You heard me, Cassius.
Gather them.
Gather them.
- This will do it.
- I know.
- We can't survive this.
The humiliation of the imperial army.
- We can't.
- The shame of it.
We can't.
- Beautifully made.
Aren't they?
Exquisite workmanship.
That old God had
remarkable creative gifts.
But the new God gets the benefit of them.
Just as it should be.
- Divine Caesar, when do we embark?
- Embark?
- For Britannia?
- One conquest at a time, Cassius.
Today, Neptune's booty.
Another day, Britannia.
Let our ships sail back to Rome.
(animals making noise)
(people chatting)
(children playing)
(cries)
- Peter, help me.- What is it?
What is it creature?
- Help me please.
Come, come.
(cries)
- Why are they crying?
- Tabatha.
- Tabatha?
(mumbling)
Tabatha yes.
- Please come.
- What has happened to her?
- Tabatha is dead.
- Where is the body?
(women crying)
What were his words?
- Tabatha Coomey.
- To bring the dead back to life.
That's not for us.
- No you have to do what he did, Peter.
He said we had to.
We saw him conquering death.
(light music)
- Tabatha Coomey,
rise little girl.
Tabatha Coomey, rise up
in the name of the Lord.
(light music)
(uplifting music)
You can come in now.
- [Woman] Bless you.
(women crying)
- Shalom.
- Your wine.- Thank you.
(muttering quietly to self)
- Shalom.
- [Man Black Beard] Shalom.
- You're from Jerusalem?
- Yes, just arrived in Samaria.
- What news in Jerusalem?
- Persecution of the Nazarenes.
- By the Romans?
- By one Roman, but he's also a Jew.
- Saul of Tarsus.
- You know him?
- He was hot against the Nazarenes,
now he's persecuting them.
Well,
do you know a man named Stephen?
- I knew a man named Stephen.
- Knew? You say knew?
- Stephen is dead.
He was stoned to death
for being a Nazarene.
- Saul did this?
- Yes.
You could say that.
- Stephen.
And Stephen's family, what's
happened to Stephen's family?
- He only had his mother,
they could find no fault in her.
Not like the sisters of the
zealot who was condemned
but escaped during the feast of Pentecost.
- What's become of my sisters?
- So you are the man?
- Caleb. What's happened to them?
- Soldiers took them to Pontius Pilate.
Pilate sent them as a
gift to his friend Sejanus
along with camels and horses and--
- My doing.
- Don't blame yourself for Roman cruelty.
- I should have thought.
And my mother?
- I heard something from Stephen,
about the mother of Caleb being dead
and very quietly buried.
You blame yourself for that too?
I also heard that you're
work went on here in Samaria.
- It was good work.
Did they know in Jerusalem
who led the rising in Samaria?
- Jewish names mean very
little to the Romans.
But I should think that
you're name meant something.
A name that Pilate broods over
on his voyage back to Rome.
- Pilate's no longer in Judea?
- He was recalled.
He made too big a mistake when he ordered
the massacre of the
Samaritans on Mount Gerizim.
- So who's ruling now in Judea?
- In Jerusalem there was talk
of setting up a client prince
Herod Agrippa but now
there's talk of a new
Roman procurator on his way.
- I dream sometimes of going to Rome
and striking at the heart.
- You Zealots are mad.
You want to go to Rome with
a dagger under your belt.
Strike at the heart?
Stephen's way was better.
- Stephen got himself killed.
You Nazarenes will achieve nothing.
I will go to Rome.
(rain falling)
(people chatting)
(easy music)
- Sarah!
Sarah!
We met here the first time, remember?
That was a sunny day.
Are you cold?
- I'm always cold.
Rome is cold.
- I'm happy to be with you again.
- Why?
- Did you forget?
- To forget, one must remember.
I do not want to remember.
- You mean you never thought of me?
- No, I've tried to
keep you out of my mind.
- I did the same.
I didn't succeed.
- It's not meant to be,
we're so far apart.
- Things will change, I promise.
You will leave your service.
- To go and serve another master?
- Give me time.
- I cannot give you what
is not mine to give.
And I should not see you anymore.
- Because I'm a Roman?
I was given no choice.
The Gods decided for me.
- You chose to be a soldier.
- I followed my father,
it's a family tradition.
- You carry a sword,
you believe in its power.
My brother does, too.
He was fighting you Romans when he left.
We were punished in his stead.
- I have never used my
sword against your people.
I often doubt its power.
- One day you could be
called to use it against us.
What would you do then?
- Then I would have to choose.
I don't know.
What I do know is that
I couldn't hurt you.
- That will be dangerous for you.
You too are a slave and
Rome is your master.
- Rome is like a mother to Romans.
I can speak my mind with
her, tell her the truth.
- Truth?
- About what I feel.
Being born a Roman means
to have freedom in life.
- It was for me too being born a Jew,
until your procurator
turned it into a lie.
Nothing can change it.
- Suppose you love me,
this will change it.
- How?
- My freedom would be yours.
- You want me to belong to you?
- I mean that the two of us should
have a chance to find our own way.
- The Jewess and the Roman soldier.
- A woman and a man.
My being a Roman, your being a Jew,
I know people may find this a difference
that cannot be reconciled.
To me,
it's just like this rain.
Forgettable.
- I'll try to remember.
(shouting)
- [Man] All of them!
They're all Nazarenes.
(shouting)
- Putting down the followers of the man
from Nazareth comes into that category,
they're trouble makers.
The Nazarenes have to be subdued,
then the tranquillity of Judea will
be acceptable even to the Romans.
- Unfortunately the new
procurator Marcellus
doesn't see it that way, he sees Saul
and his little army as
the real trouble makers.
After all they spill blood.
Saul must be stopped.
- Thank God for that.
- And yet he is doing good work.
- Then perhaps we must send him to
do his good work somewhere else.
- What about Samaria?
- Samaria's too near.
Damascus would be better,
and we shall watch over him.
Seth will accompany him.
- There are a lot of Jews in Damascus who
God help us have forsaken the true way.
- He will take a lot of persuading.
- Damascus of course is under Roman rule.
- Let the Jews of Damascus come under our
protection and jurisdiction.
They must be saved from themselves.
- By having their blood spilled?
- That will not be necessary.
I have faith in Saul's
power of persuasion.
His way is a good way.
- Pitiless.
Hardly good.
(horses snort)
(dramatic music)
- [Man] Whoa, whoa.
Steady, steady.
They're falling behind.
He's taken a stone.
- Your hearts don't seem
to be in this mission.
- Nothing to do with heart.
It's a matter of horses.
- We're still nearer to Jerusalem than
we are to Damascus aren't we, Seth?
- By my reckoning.
- Very well, you three may go back,
rest.
Take your time. Be kind to your horses.
(wind blowing)
- Farewell.
(horses snort)
(loud thunderous wind)
(horses galloping)
- Saul?
Saul!
Your eyes.
Saul?
Saul?
Saul what's happened?
Can you see?
Saul?
Saul, what's happened,
you're burning with fever.
- Your hand.
- What?
- He has brought the night on me.
You must lead me, Seth.
- Back to Jerusalem?
- To Damascus.
- Are you sure?
- Damascus.
(easy music)
- Hold on to me.
Careful, step.
Another step.
Damascus at last.
(animals grunting)
The house of--
- Judas. In a street that is straight.
- Does he expect us?
- A Jerusalem man with lodgings for
Jerusalem men.
What is this city like?
- Like any other city.
Can you tell me yet?
- You heard the voice.
- I heard only thunder.
- Twas his voice.
The Lord.
He said,
"Saul,
"Saul,
"why do you persecute me?"
"We're all by nature children of Anga.
No more.
I will persecute no longer.
You may go back to Jerusalem, Seth.
- Do we know our work is over?
- My work?
You are your own man.
- No.
No I'll stay with you.
No more persecuting of the Nazarenes.
- I happened to have become one of them.
Do you remember the name
of their leader here?
- Ananias?
The one they call the asin?
A recent comfort they say?
- Find him.
Bring him to me.
Tell him
I've a change of heart.
- Will you not take some
food before you see him?
Three days fasting is a long time.
- I may not eat.
- [Seth] You're weak,
you can hardly stand.
Just a little bread?
- I must take water first.
- I'll bring you water.
- No.
No I meant in another sense.
I am ready Ananias.
- I baptize you, Saul,
in the name of Jesus
to the remission of your sins and in
the fullness of the
grace of the most high.
- Saul no longer.
Saul is the name of another man.
Now dead.
I am Paul.
(birds chirping)
- [Caligula] What is it with you,
why do you keep trailing after me?
I don't need protection.
- Be patient Gaius Caligula, please.
May I remind you of your promise?
- My promise? Which promise?
I'm thinking about realities now.
- It is about one of your sister's slaves.
- A slave?
Hannan?
- It's a girl, Caesar.
- Oh it's a girl?
And beautiful too I suppose?
Well.
The master does at least have the right
to take a look at a beautiful slave
before giving him up, uh her up.
We will discuss this later.
All these Gods...
You know what the Jews believe?
- No, Caesar.
- That's there's only one God.
Cleaver people, the Jews.
I tell you what I want you to do.
- What Caesar?
- I want you to cut their heads off.
All of them.
- Cut their heads off?
- And put mine there.
Mine.
- Even on (mumbles) Venus, Minerva, Diana?
- Mine.
Well for those you can put more hair.
More hair.
- I see now what should have
been obvious but was not.
I was chosen for zeal not virtue.
God's ways are dark.
- Yet they seem to have
led you to light, Paul.
- And so.
- You would work here?
- I have studied and learned,
but I chose to hate
before I learned to love.
My knowledge of love is
insufficient.
Am I fit to teach in the name of Jesus?
- Very often the words
come out of mouth unbidden.
Only when I've spoken the
words do I see what they mean?
Yes.
Teach in our synagogues.
Tell them your story.
- [Man] Let your heart speak.
They will listen.
- I can't believe it.
I imprisoned.
I whipped.
I stoned.
I put to death the followers
of the Christ yet all the time.
Like yeast fermenting in the dark.
The grace was lurking within me,
unwanted.
Unbidden.
In a thunder flash,
the revelation came not in a pale dawn,
but in a new day (mumbles).
- [Man] A what?
- I was a horse, disdainful of its rider.
Kicking against the whip.
Now I sudden it to the horseman.
- You! Saul of Tarsus.
Known to all here and
referred as the scourge
of blasphemy and falsehood,
were to come to Damascus
to the joy of the faithful
that the Heretic and infidel might be
cut off from the house of Israel,
now your revealed as worthy
yourself to be seized.
(all talking loudly)
Judged,
and punished.
(all exclaim)
- But may not a man change?
Is it forbidden for the light to enter?
What I was, I was,
what I am, you see.
A man reborn.
We fashioned, even renamed.
I know that my redeemer lives
and I know the name of my redeemer.
Jesus.
The anointed true son of
the everlasting killed
but come back to life.
With his blood he washed away our sins.
By dying, he closed the road to death.
A wonder beyond all times.
Life for all because one died.
Believe as I believe.
- Get out!
Get out of Damascus!
You shame our faith!
You defile the house of the Lord.
(all shouting angrily)
(bright music)
(people talking amongst themselves)
(bright music)
(bright music)
(children laughing)
(bright music)
(loud clanging)
(people chatting quietly)
- Good Vestal.
Wait!
Good Vestal listen to me! Wait!
In the name of Vesta, your Goddess.
Help me.
Help me.
Save me from the axe.
I'm innocent, innocent I swear.
Good Vestal, save me.
You can save me if you want to.
Look at me.
- Free him.
And you.
Thank the goddess Vesta who allows you
to keep your head upon your shoulders.
Go!
- [Man In Crowd] Congratulations.
(people chatting)
(bright music)
- [Man In Crowd] Oh look, the soldiers.
(people chatting)
(drumming music)
(people clapping)
- Roman legions.
A glorious sight huh?
A Jew, you're a Jew?
- My people, where can I find them?
- All over.
But wait, there's a
tent maker called Aquila
who lives nearby, in the
street of the 10 shops.
Ask procular, they all know him.
- Shalom.
Peace be with you.
- Peace?
- The Lord be praised.
He's given us bread and
the fruits of the earth.
Welcome to our house my new friend.
Roman wine, (mumbling) they call it.
It's robust but cheap,
it'll warm your blood.
She's a good cook my Priscilla.
She spoils me.
- He deserves it.
Besides, he's easy to please.
- So much for my praising her.
Now we were never happy,
but she makes me happy.
- I'm grateful to both of you.
- The Lord wants us to help one another.
So.
You finally made it to Rome.
You've come a long way.
- Longer than I expected and hard.
- I could use an extra
pair of hands when I work.
Why don't you stay with us and help me?
- Making tents.
It's not difficult.
You will soon learn.
- I'd rather keep faith to my trade.
I know how to handle a sword.
I'd like to join a gladiator school.
You'll have to make sacrifice to the Gods.
- I've learned how to
pretend, that's how I survive.
- If you think that you'll
ever get a chance to
use your sword to free
your sisters you're wrong.
A gladiator is little more than a slave.
- Yes but a slave in arms.
- Few gladiators survive their trials.
People always want new excitements.
The more victories you collect,
the harder your competition will become.
- I'm not afraid.
Knowing my life is in danger makes
me bare my humiliation better.
I want to pay for me cowardice.
- You a coward?
- I should be in my land where my
brothers fight and die every day.
I feel my being alive's a sin.
- Life is God's gift, never a sin.
We'll try to help you find your sisters.
Where to begin?
- Pilate sent them as gifts
to Sejanus, that's all I know.
- That was long ago.
All that Sejanus owned became
the property of Caligula.
It'll be difficult but
we'll try and find them.
So what's the news from Jerusalem?
- I bring old news.
You forget I'll been away years.
Wherever I met Jewish travellers on
the way was the same old story.
Sadducees, farasies.
- Zealots.
- What is it?
- A fish.
- That I can see.
You're no fisherman.
- A Greek brother
visited us and carved it.
A coincident he said.
(clears throat)
The Greek word for fish is ichthys.
Each letter is the
initial for other words.
(speaks Greek words)
Jesus Christ son of God, the saviour.
- So the man from Nazareth is a fish?
Strange.
A fish that caught fisherman.
Are you one of his followers?
- No.
Were there many of them
when you left Judea?
- Too many.
They doctrine is contagious.
How do you know of them?
- The man who left this sign,
he came to Rome from Damascus.
He brought the good news,
he told us of Jesus of Nazareth and
of what he preached and Judea and Galilee.
- A mad man. Romans nailed him to a cross.
- This man said he rose from death.
- His tomb was found empty, his followers
must have taken the body away.
Anyways, it was good enough to fool the Romans.
What happened to this man from Damascus?
- He was very old, he died last winter.
Many people believed his words,
or the words he said were Jesus' own.
The followers of Jesus grow in number.
The wife of a Senator's even joined them.
- You seem to know a lot about them.
- I envy them, their faith.
- I remember the last
time that man spoke to us.
He told us about Jesus.
Healing cripples, and a blind man.
- There're all blind until we
find the true light he said.
He left us that evening as if he knew
there would be no more days for him.
"Remember," he said,
"soon it will be night
"and we shall all be
questioned about love."
- Well done.
Come forth.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
You are?
- Metellus, a novice.
- Metellus?
A novice.
Yes.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
Yes, you'll try as a retiarius.
You seem skilled enough
to fight for the net,
yes?
Come, prepare yourself.
Help him change.
Strip.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
You're in the school now.
Remember, this is our family.
I see.
Metellus.
You are Metellus. I am Julius Caesar.
Jew, aren't you?
Hm.
Well we're no respecters of persons here.
Let's see what you can do, retiarius.
(grunting)
(swords clanking)
- [Caleb] That one looks strong.
- Yes, you can learn something from him.
Stop!
I have a new match for you.
Begin.
(dramatic loud drumming music)
(swords clanking)
(grunting)
Hold that net tighter.
(grunting)
Don't drop that shield.
Higher! Higher!
(laughs)
That's enough for today.
(laughs)
(people chatting)
- Waiting for me?
- Just resting,
and waiting.
Forgive me.
I did not know that a woman
could train as a gladiator.
Are you a slave?
- Only of fear.
I'm learning to defend myself.
- You have no one to fight for you?
- No one brave enough.
My name is Corinna. What's yours?
- Metellus.
- Here!
- Caleb! It's Caleb!
(dramatic adventurous music)
- [Man] So it has arrived.
Statue of our divine Caligula.
What do I do Cornelius?
- Tempurus, delay.
Not a ship's responsibility.
A true art of the ruler.
On the other hand if you
want a general massacre
on both sides obey the man,
or God as he thinks he is.
I needn't point out to you the
utter blasphemy of this business.
- Blasphemy, I hear that word
all the time from the Jews.
I don't understand it.
Perhaps I've had the
wrong sort of education.
If they believe in one God, then why can't
the image of this one God
stand in their damn temple.
- Yes the wrong sort of education.
You mean they should pretend
that the image of the deified
Gaius Caligula is really
the image of their only God?
A God that has no images?
- I understood that according
to this new Jewish sect
God had turned himself into a man.
A slave called Chrestus.
- It's like confusion there, procurator.
Chrestus, I grant it's
common a name among slaves.
What does it mean?
Cheerful, useful, helpful?
The name you mean is Chrestus
and that's attached to
a man who is not a slave
but a son of the royal house
of David, Jesus of Nazareth.
This follows a good Nazarenes.
Chrestus means anointed
with sacred or like a king.
They call him the king
of the Jews, the messiah.
- I must remember to
stop seeking information
from you Cornelius,
you give me far too much.
But I will take your advice.
The divine Caligula had better
go into temporary storage.
I've got enough trouble with these
damn Jews and their unholy temple.
You've also given me an idea.
Rome shall be told that this whole matter
had be entrusted to our higher authority,
to Publius, governor of Syria.
(laughs)
Let him deal with it.
(dramatic music)
- [Man] You there! Careful!
(dramatic music)
- Execute them, Macro.
The time has come for
us to conquer Britannia.
Subdue the pagan Britains and I say
that we lack the gold that will
enable us finance our invasion.
So, now what is the opinion
of our omnipotent prefect?
- Caesar's proposal is unacceptable.
- It is acceptable to
Caesar and that's enough,
Caesar needs money!
- Nevertheless,
it would be unjustifiable
and even dangerous
to arbitrarily execute Roman patricians
in order that their estates may be seized.
- It will not be arbitrary if
you fasten crimes onto them.
Perfectly standard practice isn't it?
See to it, Macro.
- No!
With respect, Caius Caesar,
why don't you sell something.
You can use a worthy
example by auctioning off
some of the imperial commodities.
You personally own a number of
estates, slaves, vineyards...
- What I own is Rome's property.
Are you suggesting that
I should steal from Rome?
I who have always been so munificent.
I will sell my sisters' properties,
lands, slaves, everything.
- Good.
- But that will take time.
- Perhaps you should
postpone the invasion.
- The land alone will
finance the invasion.
The rest will pay for
my triumphant return.
- Very good Caesar.
Is that all?
- No, Macro, it is not all.
You've seized to be of
service to me, Macro.
I'm tired of having to think for you.
I want you to go away.
Leave your office and Rome and
go somewhere very far away.
Mauritania perhaps.
No.
Egypt.
Egypt for you.
- You--- Go. Now.
If indeed he ever leaves his native
(music drowns out speech).
(easy music)
- What happened to you,
little bird? You're ill.
You hardly move your wings.
(wailing)
- [Woman] He's wasting his time.
He's possessed.
(mumbling)
- I command you in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to depart
from the body of this man.
Go!
And torment him no more.
(wailing)
(gasp)
- [Guard] Clear the street.
- Be well.
- [Guard] Out.
Out, you move.
Now, move.
- [Peter] Come quickly.
- [Guard] All of you.
Move. Away. Move.
- [Man] Another miracle!
- Beware of that word, Simon.
Call it the victory of faith.
We did nothing, the
grace of God did it all.
- But the power is in you,
and Philip and John, it's a kind of magic.
- What do you mean by magic?
- The power to change things that are
not changed by the course of nature.
I once had the appearance myself,
I called it magic but
it was only trickery.
(laughs)
I learned it in Alexandria.
- We learned this nowhere.
The power is not in us.
The power is in God.
- I would like that power.
- Why, Simon?
Why would you like that power?
- To, uh, do good in the world?
To show the world I'm one of
God's favourite people, like you.
- For your own glory?
- I did not say that.
I do not mean it.
I learned to follow the Christ and
abjure this Egyptian trickery.
But now I am no longer Simon the magician.
I have no skill.
You have a skill and a precious one,
I would like that skill.
- Curing the sick, healing
the lame and the blind,
these are nothing Simon.
They are but sparks out of
the flames of faith in God.
They show us God's power, yes,
but it's more important that we
should learn of God's mercy.
- Give me the power, I can pay for it.
(laughs)
I can pay well.
I made much gold and silver
out of doping the people.
Now that money can go to
you to do with as you will.
But in exchange I ask that
you give me the power.
You've understood nothing.
Nothing at all of our mission,
of the faith that we teach.
You would buy God's grace,
God's power, God's mercy.
- I only wish to do
good, to cure the sick,
to bring the dead to life.
- To your own honour and glory.
- The power is in your
hands, I've seen you
so often lay those hands
upon the afflicted.
I wish to the glory of God to
have that power in my own hands.
I can pay well, a thousand sestertius.
Two thousand.
- Damned is your money.
And damned are you too unless
you repent of this wickedness.
- Wickedness?
What wickedness?
- You do not perceive wickedness.
There is as much wickedness in wilful
ignorance as in wilful sin.
Sin is a kind of ignorance as
ignorance is a kind of sin.
- But you told me the Christ
himself made a bargain
with God, he sold his life on the cross,
he bought our redemption,
the whole of life is
buying and selling, therefore
I say sell me the power.
- We thank you for the
hospitality of your house.
- I can beat you at this
miracle game anytime.
It's only trickery do you hear me?
- I think Samaria can look after itself.
Back to Jerusalem.
- Together?
- No not together.
That wastes our resources.
There are Samaritan villages
to visit on the way.
You Philip, ought to go to Gaza.
- Saul, will be waiting for us back home.
- I hear different news from Damascus.
- I don't speak as a Nazarene
because I'm not a Nazarene,
at least not yet.
But I take it you still
regard me as a friend.
- Friend and brother.
And you're concerned for my life,
well, I'm also concerned for it.
I have much to do and I start late.
But the cause isn't helped
by a show of cowardice.
- Paul, the streets
are dangerous at night.
It's pure madness to venture out.
- They've asked for me haven't they.
A fellow Nazarene lays
dying, in need of my words.
Am I to sulk here because of
a few hot heads with daggers?
Besides, I have a body guard, don't I?
I'm going.
- [Man] Paul, listen,
wait!
- That's him.
That's Paul.
(all yelling)
- [Seth] Paul, go!
Run, Paul.- We must help him.
(dramatic music)
(grunting)
- [Man] Come! Come away!
- [Man] Escape.
Hurry!
- He is led as a lamb to slaughter.
And as a lamb before
his shearer he is dumb
and so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation his
judgement is taken away.
Who would declare his generation?
For his life has been
taken away from the earth.
(horses clattering on)
Wait, wait, that man.
Will you... Wait. Stop, stop.
Stop, stop, stop.
- Shalom.
- Will you ride with me?
- You're very kind.
- Yeah, come, come.
You're from Jerusalem.
Are you comfortable?
Good, good.
I suppose you could
call me one sympathetic
with the Jewish scriptures like my queen.
- Our Candace of Ethiopia. Yes.
Your office is higher I can see.
- I am state treasurer.
As a state treasurer we
are expected to carry
part of the treasury right on our backs.
(laughs)
Whenever we travel that is.
(laughs)
But when I'm at home I
dress much more civilly.
I call myself a simple man.
Also a reading man.
My personal treasury is my books.
But there's still, as such a simple man
there's still things I
do not quite understand.
Like your Hebrew scriptures for instance.
These, these.
- The prophet Isaiah, yes.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter.
- Who?
Who's led as a lamb to slaughter?
Who does Isaiah mean,
himself or someone else?
- Somebody else.
- Who, who?
- It will take rather long to tell.
We have time.
Look around, nothing but desert.
(laughs)
We got time, you tell me.
- It had happened as the
prophet had announced.
A maiden will conceive
and give birth to a son
and they will name him Emmanuel,
meaning God is with us.
And Isaiah said, "A voice
cries in the wilderness,
"prepare away for the Lord.
"Make his path straight."
And John the Baptist
appeared in the desert.
Baptizing people with
the life giving water
as Jesus asked us to do.
- You want me to go in the water?
- Will you?
I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ.
(water trickles)
(easy music)
- [Man] Caesar, Philo of Alexandria
and his Jewish delegation asked to
be heard about your statue in Jerusalem.
- Try it on um,
on Jupiter.
- This traditional
concept of a single God,
not of many Gods,
Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Saturn and the rest.
Well Caesar, it has long been
accepted by the Roman state
that the Jewish tradition
is to be respected
even if Alexandria and Judea
are part of the Roman Empire.
- Only the Emperor exacts respect.
Your God, the God of
my friend Herod Agrippa
is merely tolerated.
It's bizarre, exotic,
amusing,
it adds its own colour to the
glorious patchwork of our Empire.
Has even taught something to our Empire,
this very notion of one God,
God is the Emperor, the Emperor is God.
What could be more satisfying?
- It is not very satisfying to the Jews.
Our God to us is unborn.
Undying.
Immortal.
Even the Emperor must die.
- The Emperor is God, God is the Emperor.
Ergo, I'm immortal.
Don't you speak to me of my death.
- No, I beg Caesar's pardon.
Let me confine my petition to this.
Do not we beg for the
sake of the tranquillity
of your Palestinian possessions
insist that your statue be installed
in the holy temple of Jerusalem.
- It has already been installed to the
great satisfaction of the Jewish people.
Now they can see their God.
Now they have a solidity to bow down to.
- I would be shaming the faith
of our fathers if I said,
"Yes Caesar, that is so."
But it is not so.
Your procurator Marcellus
is a man of good sense.
And a credit to Caesar's capacity
for choosing good administrators.
- I did not choose him, the
Emperor Tiberius chose him.
Has he disobeyed our orders?
- He has very wisely delayed to obey them,
but now the envoys from
Rome on their annual
visit to Judea have urged
immediate compliance.
This may lead to unfortunate events,
even a revolt.
- Why have I not been told of this?
Why are things kept from me?
- To conclude your procurator Marcellus
may be forced to order that your statue,
we beg of you to have the order rescinded.
- Get out of here you
rioters, unwashed Jews.
I shall be rid of your
friendly procurator.
I shall have him recalled and punished.
We will instruct Publius,
our governor in Syria,
to carry out this order without delay,
and open his veins should he fail.
I also have a mind to give you a new king.
Herod Agrippa, when he
returns to Jerusalem
my image will greet him in your temple
and the people will worship it according
to the sacred imperial rights.
Now get your superstition out of here.
- With respect Caesar,
in our tradition there is
no room for superstition.
- Out!
- We Jews do not practice magic.
- Out!
- Nor do we resort to violence.
- Out!
Out!
Out!
(shouting)
- [Man] There is no place for Caesar here.
(people shouting angrily)
(people shouting angrily)
- [Man] Close them.
- [Man] Ezra!
Ezra, wait!
(donkey squealing)
- Joseph Barnabas!
- I must go.
- Has no news came from Damascus?
- It is not news easy to believe.
- Nevertheless,
you must believe it.
Will you take me to the brethren?
Barnabas,
I am alone.
I'm unarmed.
- Saul...
We heard talk of your sudden conversion
but it's hard to accept.
A man doesn't change from a hater of
the faith to a preacher of the faith,
not like that, not overnight.
- It was much less than
overnight, Barnabas.
Your faith told you to believe
in miracles, does it not?
You see a man, totally changed,
even my name has changed.
- We heard that, too.
Paul.
- I am one of you, help me.
- Come along quickly.
- What I don't understand is this.
If you're so frightened of arrest
and retribution and all the rest of it,
why have you come back to Jerusalem?
You know we're in hiding.
- I came back for instructions.
- Well that's honest anyway.
Tell the chief priest you're pretending
to be a Nazarene and what
do I do now your holiness
oh yes, very, very clever.
- Don't be a fool, Thomas.
He means instructions from us.
- From Jesus who lives among us.
- Jesus, who spoke to me,
and blinded me.
And made me see.
You're the one they call his brother.
- James the just.
- I know this is a
sudden change.
I am still an instrument
but now for other hands.
What do you want me to do?
- What I say to you, Saul--
- Paul.
- Paul.
Is that you should get away from here,
think things over.
- Oh I've thought things over,
or should I say it was done for me.
- You're no use dead.
It's dead you'll be if you stay here.
Now get home, you'll be safe there.
- Home?
Tarsus.
- Yeah back to your father and your mother
and your books and your
tent making, meditate.
Prepare yourself better.
You can take ship from Caesarea.
Barnabas and Thomas...
- Not me.
- Barnabas and James will go
with you as far as the port.
You have money?
- Enough.
When do I come back to Jerusalem?
- I don't know.
Perhaps never.
You're a travelling man.
You're young enough and strong enough
for the big journeys.
Some of us here are getting too old.
You'll have much to do.
Go with the Lord.
(light music)
Go in peace.
(laughter)
(chatting happily)
- They want you to fight in Pompeii.
There will be dangerous men there.
When are you leaving?
- Zephaniah said that I should be
in Pompeii by the end of the week.
They're staging these games to
celebrate Caligula's future victories.
- Mockery after mockery.
Don't get hurt.
I find it easier to train my limbs
for a man's game than my heart.
I can fight you in the arena Caleb,
with the mad hope of winning one day,
but when I am alone with you...
- I am little more than a slave.
You're a patrician.
- I was no more than a
slave to be sacrificed
at a banquet in Caligula's palace.
Fortune was with me.
Another slave girl was nearly killed.
- Speak of my nightmares.
I often dream of my sisters
being beaten, killed.
- You haven't been able to find them?
- Aquila, my good friend
is still helping me.
He doesn't give up easily.
He lives by faith.
- Where does he think
your sisters could be?
- Anywhere.
In a palace or the country
villa of some rich senator.
Sarah and Ruth.
They're both so young.
And beautiful.
A special beauty some of our girls are.
- Am I beautiful?
- Your different.
Your beauty is different.
You are not my sister.
- Juno be praised.
I happen to like you.
- Recess is over. Back to training.
(clapping)
Let's go, back to work.
- You returned to Tarsus to tell me this?
I cannot believe it.
I will not.
- You must.
And you must be reconciled to it.
Things change.
God ordained it.
The Empire, broken from within.
The Jewish law torn by
the turmoil of sects
with their different interpretations.
- Heresy. Double heresy.
- Don't talk to me of heresy, father.
You mingle with the Roman pagans.
- I show no more than respect.
I remain a good Jew and a good citizen.
- So do I.
But I accept the messiah.
I have too much respect for Roman order
to wish to see it
collapse under a mad man.
- You speak of the Emperor?
- I acknowledge only
one master now, father.
I abjure the world's madness
whether of Gaius Caligula
or of Saul of Tarsus, your son.
- To abandon your own name?
The name you answered to when you were
called up to read from the Torah?
Oh Saul.
Saul, you must know there's
no room for you here.
- I expected that.
- Disinherited and disowned.
Your grandfather was honoured
with Roman citizenship.
I served the tradition of our fathers when
the very first dad could recite
the verses from the Torah.
A good Jew and a good
Roman gets his reward.
And you will get yours someday.
The headman's axe or the stones of the mob
or the shame of the cross.
- Not shame.
Don't talk of shame.
(dramatic music)
- Britannia, Britannia, Britannia.
I wonder what the natives call it.
- There's no one name Marcus.
Each tribe has its own little region
which it thinks to be the big world.
- Now the real big world rushes in.
- The Roman eagle spreads its wings.
- [Both] Till it splits its. (laughter)
- This is known as building an Empire.
And this, this Valerius is the last part.
(wind drowns out speech)
But what do we bring?
- Law and order.
Roads, temples.
- And the worship of the divine Caligula.
Slaves, tribute.
- Gold and copper.
For a finish that
depleted coppers of Rome.
Britannia.
As a cure for insolvency.
(trumpets playing)
- We better take post.
(trumpet plays)
(horses galloping)
(dramatic music)
- [Man] Hail, Caesar.
- [Man Hail, Caesar.
- [Man] Hail, Caesar.
- [Man] Hail Caesar.
- [Man] Hail, Caesar.
- [Man] Hail Caesar.
(drumming)
(drumming)
- Soldiers of the Empire,
your brave hearts and fine bodies
have reached the northern
shore of the province of Gaul.
From here you will embark and
sail to the shores of Britannia.
Britannia will fall to us and be ours.
- [All] Hail Caesar!
- This is a solemn occasion.
The last province of the Roman
Empire awaits our acquisition.
- [All] Hail Caesar.
- But first,
there is an important thing
that I wish you to do.
These shells spread all along the shore
are the spoils of the ocean.
They are Roman property and as such
they must be returned to Rome.
Gather them.
Put down your arms and gather them.
- [Cassius] All of them Caesar.
- You heard me, Cassius.
Gather them.
Gather them.
- This will do it.
- I know.
- We can't survive this.
The humiliation of the imperial army.
- We can't.
- The shame of it.
We can't.
- Beautifully made.
Aren't they?
Exquisite workmanship.
That old God had
remarkable creative gifts.
But the new God gets the benefit of them.
Just as it should be.
- Divine Caesar, when do we embark?
- Embark?
- For Britannia?
- One conquest at a time, Cassius.
Today, Neptune's booty.
Another day, Britannia.
Let our ships sail back to Rome.
(animals making noise)
(people chatting)
(children playing)
(cries)
- Peter, help me.- What is it?
What is it creature?
- Help me please.
Come, come.
(cries)
- Why are they crying?
- Tabatha.
- Tabatha?
(mumbling)
Tabatha yes.
- Please come.
- What has happened to her?
- Tabatha is dead.
- Where is the body?
(women crying)
What were his words?
- Tabatha Coomey.
- To bring the dead back to life.
That's not for us.
- No you have to do what he did, Peter.
He said we had to.
We saw him conquering death.
(light music)
- Tabatha Coomey,
rise little girl.
Tabatha Coomey, rise up
in the name of the Lord.
(light music)
(uplifting music)
You can come in now.
- [Woman] Bless you.
(women crying)