♪♪
[applauding]
[crowd cheering]
[crowd] Narcissus! Narcissus! Narcissus! Narcissus!
Narcissus! Narcissus! Narcissus!
[Commodus] People of Rome!
For any gladiator who steps onto the battleground,
there is no greater achievement than the Rodarus.
This wooden sword...
is given only to gladiators whose abilities transcend the battleground.
Whose victories defy description.
Those who have proven themselves superior to all others...
in the eyes of the people, their Emperor, and the Gods.
Narcissus is such a gladiator.
Undefeated on the battleground.
Both feared and revered by his opponents.
He has more than earned this sword.
And with it,
his freedom.
[cheering]
[narrator] Commodus has honored the man who trained him in the arena,
marking the opening of the greatest celebration of games
since the dedication of the Coliseum.
[crowd] Commodus! Commodus!
[yells]
[theme music playing]
[applauding]
♪♪
[narrator] 12 years after claiming the throne,
Commodus is prepared to put his life on the line,
to restore glory to his city,
and win the respect of his people.
[Jerry Toner] I think if we'd attended the games,
we would be amazed at the glamour of the event.
We would be overwhelmed by the noise of the crowd.
We'd have been stunned by the gladiators and their shiny armor.
And we'd have been horrorstruck at the ferocity of the fighting itself
that goes on in the arena.
[narrator] Spanning 14 days,
the Emperor's games feature hundreds of exotic animals for live hunting,
prisoners and slaves for executions,
with lavish gifts and prizes for those in attendance.
With a full coliseum, the games will be unlike any celebration
in the history of Rome.
[guard] Emperor Commodus!
[cheering]
Senators...
welcome to the games.
Please, honor your host.
[narrator] For a crowd of more than 50,000 people...
[senator] May the Gods be with you.
[narrator] ...Commodus has announced that for the first time...
[senator] May the Gods be with you.
[narrator] ...the Emperor will fight as a gladiator.
[senator] May the Gods be with you.
Senator.
[senator] May the Gods be with you.
Precious jewels and fine robes won't save him now.
[senator] May the Gods be with you.
[Commodus] Senator Dio.
May the Gods protect you, Commodus.
People of Rome!
Let the games begin!
[cheering]
♪♪
[narrator] But while the Roman people hail their ruler,
members of the Senate fear the Emperor's bold move
would be his last.
For Commodus, fighting as a gladiator will solidify his popularity
and secure his legacy as Emperor.
But becoming a gladiator is just the first step in a much bigger plan,
one that will make him a legend.
In Roman society,
Hercules is celebrated for slaying a mythical lion
and wearing the animal's hide for protection.
For his games,
Commodus is certain if he can embody the Roman god,
he too will be invincible...
and be forever honored by the Roman people.
[Jerry Toner] The Emperor Commodus portrays himself as the god Hercules,
a great fighter and a great hunter.
What he's trying to do
when he appears in the games dressed as Hercules,
is underline to people that when he fights as a gladiator,
he is as skilled a fighter as the god Hercules was.
♪♪
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] All hail Commodus, Emperor of Rome!
[yells]
[grunting]
[cheering]
[grunting]
[cheers]
[yells]
[swords clanging]
[screaming]
[applauding]
[screams]
[anguished screaming]
[yelling]
[narrator] For the first time,
an emperor has claimed victory as a gladiator in the Roman Coliseum.
And in front of thousands,
Commodus wins the recognition
and validation he's always wanted.
[crowd] Commodus! Commodus! Commodus! Commodus!
[narrator] After his triumph in the arena,
Commodus believes he's proven himself the supreme ruler of the Roman people.
And with a new vision for the Empire, he orders a meeting of the Senate.
Senators...
I called you here tonight to share some important news with you.
That I am...
in fact...
alive.
When I first declared my intention to step on to the battleground
and prove my worth as a gladiator,
many of you thought, "He must be mad."
While most of you assumed...
"He'll surely be killed."
But as all of you witnessed today,
and the blood on my sword confirms,
it is my opponent who no longer walks among us.
And now,
I stand here before you,
not only victor in the Coliseum,
but right here in this building.
Because when 50,000 voices unite as one,
everyone can hear it.
Even a body as old, and outdated, as the Senate.
The people's voice is strong.
Oh, and it is true.
Theirs is the voice that guides me,
not those of bickering, backstabbing,
self-serving parasites.
Men whose day was done when Caesar took the throne.
Clinging to power that died with the Republic,
and praying for...
or plotting...
my death.
But the only thing that's dead is the lie that Rome needs you.
So on the first day of the new year,
I proclaim there will be a new Rome.
A Rome cast in my image.
-[senator] This is outrageous! -I am the Emperor!
If you doubt me,
then you weren't listening.
The people's voice was clear.
They have made their choice...
and it is...
Commodus.
[all shouting]
Commodus! Commodus!
[all shouting]
Commodus!
Commodus! Commodus! Commodus!
Great day to be alive, Senator.
♪♪
[murmuring]
[Jerry Toner] Commodus seems to have acted increasingly dictatorially.
He seems to ignore those around him,
and he himself becomes more and more a megalomaniac.
Was he alone in this? Had no other Emperors done that?
Well, sadly, no.
Other Emperors, whether it was Caligula or Nero,
had similar character traits.
[shouting]
[narrator] By rejecting the authority of the Senate,
Commodus has established total control of the Empire,
and begins to transform the city in his image.
With imperial orders,
the Emperor commissions massive golden statues
and renames the months of the year after himself.
And in a show of ultimate authority,
nearly 1,000 years after the founding of Rome,
Commodus gives the city a new name:
Colonia Commodiana.
[Prof. Aaron Irvin] Being Emperor wasn't just simply about
fulfilling duties, it wasn't just simply about going to work on a day-to-day basis.
An emperor was who you were
at the absolute root of your person.
And everyone and everything in Roman society
is aimed at expressing how great the Emperor is.
Of course, that's going to affect you.
It'd be impossible that that wouldn't, in some way,
begin to affect the way that you saw yourself.
[cheering]
[narrator] As the games continue,
the Emperor's show of strength
begins to escalate.
[yelling]
[cheering]
[yelling]
[Prof. Clifford Ando] Commodus wanted to appear as a gladiator. He was...
taken by the notion of his own strength and power.
And he may actually have believed that he was displaying...
superhuman, extra-human power and skill.
[screaming]
[cheering]
[crowd] Commodus! Commodus! Commodus!
Hard to watch.
[narrator] But while the Roman people cheer for their Emperor,
what they don't realize, is that before stepping into the arena,
Commodus has made certain that his victories are guaranteed.
[blood spilling]
[Toner] When Commodus appears as a gladiator,
he makes sure that he's not going to come to any harm.
He made sure that his opponents fought with dulled blades.
And after a few exchanges of blows,
the other gladiator quickly fell to the floor
understanding what was best for him.
[yelling]
♪♪
I will endure to be burned,
to be bound, to be beaten,
to be killed by the sword.
♪♪
[crowd chanting outside] [door opening]
No more worry in your eyes.
Now that this is done.
[crowd outside] Commodus! Commodus!
Listen to them.
[man] They're still calling your name.
If I could give them 14 more days, I would.
And you wouldn't have to worry, because I cannot be defeated.
[Narcissus] So it would seem.
Narcissus.
Sorry, Emperor, I didn't mean to startle you.
You of all people should know better than to sneak up on a gladiator,
especially one with the blood of his vanquished opponent
still fresh on his blade.
It was a good battle.
Attilius fought valiantly.
Indeed he did.
They all did.
It seems you trained me too well, my friend.
[Narcissus] Did I train you to do this?
You have something to say, Narcissus,
you should say it.
I just watched you kill...
my brothers.
Men who stepped onto the battlefield and fought with honor.
And they died with it.
Holding dulled blades.
Is that not a good enough reason to spare their lives?
[Commodus] I gave the people what they want.
They want to see defenseless men slaughtered--
Slaves!
They were slaves.
Slaves I gave the honor of dying by my sword.
The honor to sacrifice themselves for the glory of my Empire.
The honor to achieve immortality.
So it's only because I stand before you a freedman
that you are not bringing your sword down upon me?
With only my dulled blade to protect myself?
My friend?
[Commodus] Pick it up.
-I said pick it up. -I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Emperor.
-Get it out of my sight. -I'm sorry.
Commodus...
Silence!
[crying]
Don't you look at me that way.
Get out.
Now!
All of you! Out, now!
Out!
♪♪
[narrator] Commodus knows that if his deceit is revealed,
he'll lose the trust of the people
and the recognition he believes he's earned.
♪♪
So he marks anyone who knows of his plan
for banishment or execution
in an official royal document known as a proscription list.
Paranoia was not entirely uncharacteristic of the Roman Emperors,
and Commodus lived in his own little world of paranoia.
He supposed everybody was plotting against him and they were.
[Dio] All of them.
I did as the Emperor ordered.
And now that it has been revealed, he cannot risk that the people find out.
What can we do?
You were wise to come here first.
But you cannot stay here.
You must return to the palace.
No.
You must return to the palace.
Tell him that you don't care what he did,
that you love him no matter what,
and that's why you've come back.
To prove your love.
-Poison? -[Dio] For his wine.
-There has to be another way. -This is your only hope.
Or would you rather wait here for the Praetorian Guards?
[Marcia sobbing]
[Everitt] The people closest to him that ran his life lost confidence
in their own physical security,
and thought the only solution is going to be to get rid of Commodus.
Because what else could they do in order to avoid
being put to death themselves?
[narrator] For centuries,
poison has been used as a lethal weapon in the ancient world.
As toxic elements found in common plants
and venom from insects and snakes can be easily disguised,
effectively killing the victim without a trace.
[Jeffrey Stevens] Throughout Roman history,
poison does seem to be a more insidious form of assassination plot.
You know, it's not that you're being, you know,
killed in this martial way, or threatened in this martial way...
...it's that perhaps the people that are most intimately involved in your life,
can you really trust them?
[Marcia] Commodus.
[Commodus] What are you doing here?
Get out.
You get out!
[heavy breathing]
[Commodus groaning]
[weak groaning]
Commodus.
I need some water.
[Commodus groaning]
[grunting] [groaning]
Marcia.
What happened?
-What happened? -He's throwing it up.
I found this.
Well, then... We must go to Dio.
You go.
Of course. A proscription list.
It includes her name, mine, Narcissus...
And me.
It's almost the entire Senate.
As madness gives way to vengeance.
Come with me.
-Senator, what am I-- -Listen to me very closely.
You must take this sword to Narcissus.
We have no time to lose.
[Commodus] Marcia...
I spare your life...
and you sentence me to death.
The only way out...
is through me.
The only way you live...
is to kill me...
[sword thudding]
with your dulled blade.
♪♪
[yells]
[grunting]
I...
I gave you your freedom.
I earned my freedom!
You...
-You had everything just handed to you. -I have--
You have nothing! Nothing!
You have no compassion, you have no courage.
And you have no honor.
[groaning] [coughing]
[grunts]
♪♪
[narrator] The assassination of Commodus marks the end of an era,
and the dawn of widespread turmoil throughout the Empire.
For the next year, Rome is consumed by civil war
and those who plotted against the Emperor are soon punished.
Responsible for the Emperor's death, Narcissus, a celebrated gladiator
and the man who trained Commodus to fight in the arena
is executed.
And within a year, Marcia,
one of the most powerful women in the Empire,
and the one person Commodus truly trusted,
is sentenced to death by the new reigning Emperor.
But Cassius Dio survives.
The ambitious Senator, who once fought to protect Commodus,
will go on to write one of the only surviving accounts
of this time in the Roman Empire.
♪♪
In the 13 years of his reign,
Commodus brought peace to Rome.
But he will come to be known...
as the man responsible for an unprecedented age of chaos,
betrayal,
and the beginning of the fall of the greatest empire ever known.
[theme music playing]