♪♪
The music we play is mournful...
and tears flow, itching our cheeks with sorrow.
We do not forget that our beloved Empress
has departed this world for one of eternal bliss.
She's left us far too soon,
but I take great comfort that her soul resides in eternity,
watched over by all the Gods in the Elysian Fields.
Now as we prepare to light the pyre
that usher her into the afterlife,
I ask only one thing of you.
That you remember her as I do.
A woman who loved Rome...
and family...
more than life itself.
♪♪
[narrator] 14 years after becoming the Emperor of Rome,
Marcus Aurelius mourns the death of his wife,
and the mother of his only son...
Empress Faustina.
[theme music playing]
Are they ready?
They're just giving the horses some water.
You should prepare to leave for Rome at first light tomorrow.
This is not a good time for me to leave the front.
I'll follow you in a week.
Trust Pompeianus.
And our attack plan is good.
Tell them I'll be there in a minute.
Father...
When Mother sent me up here to learn from you...
I know I didn't take it seriously.
Now, I feel I'm ready to.
Feel?
Know. I know I am.
You don't know anything.
I'm your son.
Let me try.
♪♪
We'll see.
[Prof. David Levene] The basic reason that Marcus Aurelius
chose Commodus as his successor is the obvious one,
that Commodus was his son.
And once that is taken into consideration,
I think it would be extremely difficult for Marcus to pass his son over.
It would have looked extremely problematic.
♪♪
The purpose of this training is not to teach you how to kill.
A great leader has internal strength.
To get there, we begin with the sword.
But, it's only the beginning.
Begin.
♪♪
Again.
Marcus Aurelius had been chosen
at the age of 17 to, someday, become Emperor.
And at that point, after years of education, and prepping, and grooming,
he had been given military commands.
He had been given experience.
And he patterned Commodus's own education in exactly that way.
[narrator] For Commodus to succeed him,
and one day rule the Empire,
Aurelius knows that first,
his son must be groomed for the throne.
A process with a long tradition in the Empire.
Since the dawn of the Empire,
the success of an emperor's rule...
has relied on his control of the army.
And to gain the respect of the Roman troops,
an emperor must prove himself as a skilled warrior.
[Jerry Toner] Now, we may think that it was a bit irresponsible
of a father to take their son along into a war zone.
And yet, what Marcus Aurelius is trying to do is introduce his son to his troops.
He knows that when Commodus inherits from him,
that the troops will be his power base.
And he wants to make sure that the troops are already familiar with him
and comfortable with him.
Greatly improved, Commodus.
There's still a long way to go.
In battle, your enemy will look you in the eye and attack you with a weapon.
In Rome,
you must learn to fight a battle of words...
in a den of snakes.
[narrator] After proving himself on the battlefield,
Commodus heads back to Rome with his father.
But his training for the throne is far from complete.
♪♪
Now, Marcus Aurelius knows...
it's time for Commodus to learn to navigate the Empire's political systems,
including the Senate.
For centuries,
the Roman Senate has commanded authority...
as one of the Empire's most powerful institutions.
[Prof. Clifford Ando] There was no way,
no matter how much power the Emperor claimed to exercise,
for a single person to rule an empire of 50 million people...
without the help of others.
The Emperor needs civilian governing apparatus.
And that apparatus, that governmental structure,
had to have leaders.
The answer was the Senate.
[narrator] Made up of 600 men of the elite class,
and with seats passed down through generations...
the Roman Senate is responsible for maintaining the treasury,
holding trials,
and advising the Emperor.
I humbly thank the Senate for its time.
May the Gods be with you.
[applause]
Emperor...
Senators. You know my son, Commodus.
-Of course, of course. -[Commodus] Senators.
Emperor, before anything else,
I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences,
on behalf of the Senate,
on the loss of your wife.
[Aurelius] You're very kind, Senator.
But you should remember that it's not just my wife who was lost.
My children have lost their mother.
And Rome...
-has lost their Empress. -Indeed.
And a great one.
Without question.
This is such a difficult time for the Empire...
in so many ways.
Which is why I have not made my request for funds lightly.
I am acutely aware of the limitations of the treasury--
We are not interested in awareness, Emperor.
Simply, accountability.
Emperor. What Senator Quintianus means--
Senator Quintianus made himself quite clear.
But be assured, the Barbarian resistance is in its last throes.
And I have no doubt, with the aid of the Senate,
our inevitable victory will come that much more quickly.
A victory which will bring greater compensation back to those...
who made it possible.
Senator...
It's very interesting.
You can't trust any of them.
[Tom Holland] In the early centuries of Roman expansion,
the Senate saw itself as the kind of brain's trust of the state.
The Emperors had to pay lip service to them,
but they were always conscious of the fact
that they could not allow Senators to overreach themselves.
And so, the relationship between Emperors and Senators
was often very challenging.
[narrator] As two of the most influential Senators in Rome,
Cassius Dio and Quintianus both serve under Marcus Aurelius.
And by supporting the Emperor's request for military funds,
they look to maintain power of their own.
Cassius Dio and Quintianus were both powerful Roman politicians.
They were both Senators.
Cassius Dio was actually to become a consul.
Quintianus had led the successful Roman campaign into Germania.
So people looked to them for leadership,
for advice, for patronage.
Both men were at the heart of Roman politics.
[narrator] For Aurelius,
negotiating with the Senate is an important lesson for his son.
But before he can assume the throne,
Commodus must have an empress who will aid in his rule.
[Prof. Corey Brennan] When we're looking at Rome's Emperors and their families,
it's almost exclusively arranged marriages.
So these decisions were not made very much on the basis of love.
Almost all, really, virtually all of the marriages
one has seen for generations amongst Rome's elite
are for political, dynastic purposes.
[Ando] The high society of the Roman Empire,
was a highly aristocratic one.
And it was therefore necessary, when choosing a spouse,
either for a prince or a princess in the Imperial household
to choose somebody of considerable aristocratic prestige.
[narrator] Born into one of Rome's most influential families,
Bruttia Crispina is the daughter of one of Marcus Aurelius's closest advisors,
and is chosen by the Emperor as a strategic match for his son.
[Toner] Bruttia Crispina was from a very powerful family.
Her father has been consul twice.
A clever emperor needed the support of the most powerful people in Roman society,
who tended to be the Senatorial class,
and so he knows then that when he himself dies,
Commodus will be able to
inherit a situation where the movers and shakers in Roman politics
are there to support him.
My apologies. I did not mean to be delayed, but...
here we are.
I must say, it's good to take a break from all the matters of the Empire
with this simple, private, social lunch.
This gathering is as important as any meeting I've taken in the Senate.
[chuckles]
Don't you think so, Commodus?
[Commodus] I do.
But I also think it's a beautiful day.
I would love to show Crispina some of the Palace orchids.
Would you care for more wine?
Perhaps a little.
[narrator] The marriage will bring Commodus one step closer to the throne,
securing his power and support within the Empire.
But the union is also a threat to anyone looking to gain influence,
including Commodus's sister, Lucilla.
[Prof. Andrew Scott] Lucilla had been the perhaps most visible powerful woman
in the Roman Empire at the time.
And Crispina may have, in a way, sort of usurped her position.
♪♪
[narrator] Within months,
Commodus and Crispina will be married...
in a ceremony traditional of royal weddings in the Roman Empire.
When a member of the royal family is married,
an agreement is signed between the two families.
Gifts are exchanged and the union is honored by the general public.
For Commodus and Crispina,
the wedding is commemorated with minted coins...
and a commissioned song by one of Rome's best composers.
But while the Empire welcomes a new empress,
not everyone in the palace is celebrating.
The marriage secures a valuable alliance,
but as the Empire's future begins to settle in Rome...
hundreds of miles away,
with the absence of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus on the battlefield,
the war against the Germanic tribes has escalated.
The Roman army is struggling to fight back.
[yelling]
[Toner] The Goths, this Germanic tribe,
move westwards.
And what this causes is a kind of domino effect.
And there is a whole series of wars between groups of these German tribes
and the Roman Empire.
They're a diverse group of tribes.
It's not like dealing with the Persian Empire,
where you're just dealing with one government, one army.
They form alliances, they fall out with each other.
And so the war proves to be very long, costly.
♪♪
[narrator] As the Emperor's wartime advisor,
and a respected military leader,
Pertinax has acted in the Emperor's place.
But with the Roman army losing ground,
he sends word of the mounting struggle to Marcus Aurelius.
News of invasions along the border and Roman casualties travel to Rome.
And Aurelius and Commodus know they have no choice...
but to head back to the front lines.
In the reign of Marcus Aurelius,
the military campaigns were mainly reactive.
These were not campaigns of conquest. These were to solidify Rome's borders.
And these were forced upon Marcus Aurelius.
♪♪
Now facing a war with multiple fronts against several battling armies,
Marcus Aurelius must come up with a plan.
[Aurelius] The third legion two leagues...
west to the seventh legion,
two leagues east, we'll trap them.
-Right there. -Yes, sir.
Thank you, gentlemen.
[Aurelius] I'll give the Barbarians something.
They don't give in easily.
Can we defeat them?
We'll find out on the battlefield.
Or wherever these cowards decide to crawl out from under their rocks.
Is it true they have us surrounded?
They do not have us surrounded.
They do have us unsettled, only because I wasn't here to lead a...
a direct counter attack here.
If we hadn't gone back to Rome,
we wouldn't be in this predicament.
But we had to go back to Rome.
We had to go back.
Yes, yes we did.
But if we hadn't--
This isn't mother's fault.
Don't put words in my mouth.
What are you trying to say, then?
I'm saying--
She went to your tent to ask for forgiveness.
Your mother made a decision.
Did you refuse?
Do not lay the blame at my feet.
[Aurelius gasping]
Father? Father, Father...
Father!
Help!
He just collapsed.
[narrator] For years,
war has ravaged the borders of the Roman Empire...
and taken a toll on its Emperor.
♪♪
But nearly a decade after the conflict began,
Marcus Aurelius is fighting another deadly enemy.
One sweeping through the Empire and wreaking havoc on the human population.
The plague.
For the past 15 years,
the Antonine Plague has devastated the Roman Empire.
And the same half million miles of roads built by the Romans...
are now providing an ideal path for the spread of the disease.
One of Rome's greatest strengths has become a fatal weakness.
[Toner] The Antonine Plague occurs
in the mid '60s, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
The effects seems to have been dramatic.
2,000 people a day are dying in the city of Rome,
and a quarter of all those who are affected die of the symptoms.
The Roman Empire had good networks of communication.
But that also meant that disease could travel along those networks.
It meant that any kind of new disease
would quickly be dispersed amongst the wider population.
[narrator] More than 5 million people have died of the plague.
And the Roman Army has been nearly wiped out.
With his father ill,
Commodus knows the fate of the Empire is at stake.
Commodus...
Bring me good news.
There are reports of a tribal army on the other side of the river.
Pompeianus thinks we should send the second legion across,
hold the fourth and fifth in reserve.
No.
Tell him to commit all the troops.
The Barbarians will have to...
march a hundred miles to attack our flank.
We can overpower them...
Pompeianus is always too conservative...
Father...
You're going to be sole Emperor of Rome,
when I die.
You're not dying.
I wish that were true...
for your sake.
I'm not ready.
No.
But if I don't name you Emperor,
they'll kill you.
You were brought up with women and slaves, when you should have been here,
by my side.
I can be strong.
Well, you'll have to be.
Because even when you've taken the throne,
they'll come for you.
Who?
All of them.
[Aurelius] No, no, no.
Not the generals, they're loyal soldiers.
Anyone who thinks they deserve to be Emperor.
Promise me...
you'll finish the war.
[narrator] Nearly 20 years after he claimed the throne,
Marcus Aurelius dies at the age of 58.
♪♪
The life of one of the most celebrated rulers
in the history of the Roman Empire will be honored for centuries.
And his writings on philosophy will be read for generations.
[Toner] Marcus Aurelius was famous for being a good Emperor.
He saw it as his duty to support the Empire,
and to try and protect it militarily.
But he was also popular with the people.
He delivered Rome great military victories,
he handed out money,
and people seemed to have held him in very high regard.
[narrator] After the passing of one of Rome's greatest Emperors,
Commodus knows he must now take on the most powerful position in the world.
And while the Empire grieves,
the royal family looks to the future...
knowing that the only son of Marcus Aurelius...
must now carry on his father's legacy.
That's four farms along the frontier and two villages to the east.
Cowards.
And we'll continue to see more of this unless we strike back now.
And stretch the legion out even thinner?
We need to consolidate our forces.
While the animals that did this
scatter into the woods to strike us again tomorrow.
No. I say we push across the Danube.
Drive a wedge between the two tribes--
You seem to forget the numbers are on our side.
To say nothing of the Gods, this one battle may have been lost--
I don't doubt we'll win the war--
Enough!
Consolidate, separate...
Can you give me an answer as to why are we even here?
Emperor. We are here for the glory of Rome.
We are hundreds of miles from Rome.
-Emperor, your father himself-- -I'm well aware of my father's feelings.
Of course.
[narrator] For nearly a decade,
Commodus has watched his Empire consumed by war.
And with his father gone,
he knows he must make a choice
that will determine the fate of Rome.
[Toner] When Marcus Aurelius dies,
Commodus finds himself in a war zone
with a war that he doesn't want to continue.
It's easy for us to judge Commodus by the standards of his father.
But Marcus Aurelius was an exceptional emperor,
who had ruled from the very highest standards of good governance.
Commodus was not really interested in administration.
And he was not interested in fighting wars.
And so, Commodus seems to sit at this threshold
of an empire that is transitioning.
[narrator] Commodus will soon lead the entire Roman Empire.
And those he trusts will be promoted into the highest ranks
of the Imperial palace.
Including his closest friends and former slaves...
Cleander and Saoterus.
Knock knock. Anyone home?
Emperor?
No.
He's got to be at the bluff.
Back to the bluff.
[Ando] Cleander and Saoterus were members of the Imperial household
and of slightly different background
at the moment when we encounter them in the life of Commodus.
But both of them were, in essence, low status individuals
who achieved high status by virtue of proximity to the Emperor.
Commodus's trust of Cleander and Saoterus probably derives from the fact
that they were close to him for virtually his entire life.
♪♪
Let them through.
[Cleander] We thought you were coming back to the tent.
I don't want to be anywhere near that tent.
Or that camp. Or them. Or this ridiculous, endless war.
What did they say?
It's what they didn't say.
“Yes, Emperor.” “Excellent point, Emperor.”
They don't care what I think.
You see, I'm not my father, so I don't exist.
They'll just keep doing what they want to do and...
and they'll never respect me.
You're the Emperor of Rome. They don't have to respect you.
They have to obey you.
If only it were that easy.
It doesn't have to be so difficult.
Commodus, the people of Rome, they're just like you.
They want to see an end to this war.
I've heard it in the streets every day.
It kept your father away for eight years. And now, it's threatening
-to do the same to you. -I know. But I can't just--
They need to see you. A new Emperor needs to be in Rome.
I promised my father I would finish the war.
Those generals, they know it.
And they will use it against me at every opportunity.
So finish it.
♪♪
[narrator] Despite his father's wishes and the advice of his military advisors,
Commodus is determined to put an end to the war with the Germanic tribes.
And just months after his father's death,
he makes his first move in his absence.
Emperor, with all due respect, I urge you to reconsider--
The war is over.
♪♪
[narrator] The treaty marks a historic moment for the Empire...
as Germanic tribes are pushed back from the border...
and thousands of enemy soldiers are forced to enlist in the Roman Army.
But for Commodus, the fight is far from over.
While the people celebrate peace,
the military and the Senate oppose the treaty.
Commodus did not continue to pursue
his father's war with the Germanic tribes.
When historians wrote about Commodus suspending this war,
they often said that he was eager to rush back to Rome,
because he wanted to enjoy life in the city.
That he had some interest in luxury and debauchery
that kept him off the battlefield.
But instead, we can see someone who really wanted to shore up
political support for himself in the nexus of power.
[narrator] With the war finally over,
Commodus prepares to leave the battlefront.
And can now return home as ruler of the Roman Empire.
[theme music playing]