De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)
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| De Patre Vostro (About Your Father) | |
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| Octavian Caesar and the Julii at the triumph | |
| Season | 2 (2007) |
| Episode | 22 |
| Air date(s) | March 25, 2007 (HBO) |
| Writer(s) | Bruno Heller |
| Director | John Maybury |
| Setting | Rome, Alexandria |
| Time frame | September 31 BC ~ September 30 BC See also: Chronology of Rome |
| Link | HBO Summary |
| Prev: Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (No God Can Stop A Hungry Man) Next: None I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII |
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De Patre Vostro (translation: About Your Father) is the tenth and final episode of the second season of the television series Rome. It originally aired on March 25, 2007.
| “ | You are swearing now that some day you will destroy me. Remember: far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go and look for them now. | ” |
[edit] Plot summary
Series finale. In the aftermath of the Battle of Actium, Mark Antony returns to Alexandria, settling into a world of numbing debauchery with Cleopatra. Meanwhile, Octavian turns to Titus Pullo to try to convince Lucius Vorenus to give up Cleopatra's palace in lieu of a fiery siege.
Predictably, Vorenus refuses, but Cleopatra seems willing to dupe Mark Antony in order to save her life, if not her honor. With Mark Anthony dead and Octavian's army at the palace steps, Vorenus flees with Caesarion, Cleopatra's imperious son and Caesar's supposed heir, whom Octavian wants dead. As Vorenus exits the city with the boy, Pullo is ordered by Octavian to track them down. The old friends find one another and decide to abscond. As Pullo and Vorenus travel they run into a Roman roadblock on the lookout for Caesarion. During the fight that ensues, Vorenus is badly wounded, and pleads with Pullo to bring him home to his children. Meanwhile Cleopatra, realizing that Octavian only wants her as a trophy and will never let her keep her throne, foils him by allowing a poisonous snake to bite her. "You have a rotten soul," she gasps to Octavian, and expires.
Atia takes the news of Antony's death calmly; Octavia is disturbed by Atia's somber mood and lack of interest in Octavian's rise, saying "I don't know what I shall do if you give up." After a month-long journey, Vorenus and Pullo return to Rome for an emotional reunion at the Collegium — just as Octavian's triumph is being held amidst bittersweet pomp and circumstance. As Livia and Octavia are about to enter the Forum, late arrival Atia takes the lead, and puts "vicious little trollop" Livia in her place. Octavia grins; Atia of the Julii is back.
Pullo lies to Octavian about the fate of Caesarion and is rewarded, also telling him that Vorenus has succumbed to his wounds. As the series closes, Pullo begins the inevitable story of Caesarion's real father, presumably revealing to the boy that he, Titus Pullo, is really his father, with the line: "About your father..."
[edit] Inaccuracies and errors
- Of Mark Antony's seven children, only Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene and Antonia Major are depicted in the series. Missing are his children by Fulvia: Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Iullus Antonius Creticus; his other daughter with Octavia Minor, Antonia Minor; and his youngest child with Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Similarly, Antonia Major is the only one of Octavia's five children featured.
- In the series, Caesarion appears as a young child at the time of his "death". The historical Caesarion was 17 years old by the time of Antony's defeat in Actium.
- Atia Balba Caesonia (historial basis for Atia of the Julii) was already dead at the time of Antony's defeat at Actium; in the series she is depicted attending Octavian's triumph ceremony..
- The triumph itself, which was portrayed relatively faithfully in the episode Triumph, is here incorrect. Octavian wears a white toga instead of the crimson of the triumphor; moreover, his face is not painted red as was the custom.
- The episode's title About Your Father in correct Latin would be De Patre Vestro rather than De Patre Vostro (vostro is the modern Italian equivalent of the Latin vestro).
