Rome, Where All Roads End.
I went to Rome and my romance ended there.
The saying “All roads lead to Rome” has been used since the Middle Ages, and refers to the fact that the Roman Empire’s roadways radiated outwards from its capital. There were 29 military highways, the key to Rome's military might. These routes ensured that the Roman military could out-pace and out-maneuver its enemies, but they also aided in the everyday maintenance of the Empire.
“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridias, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix legions, loyal servant to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
Get the Rome DELUXE edition https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/124452
-
This is a knockout scene from a great movie, GLADIATOR. The scene is when Russell Crowe’s Maximus reveals himself to Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus.
The scene starts with Maximus stashing an arrowhead in his hand. Commodus confronts Maximus in the Colosseum. Commodus praises Maximus and asks him his name. Maximus says his name is Gladiator and turns his back on Commodus.
Commodus, offended, addresses Maximus as “slave” and demands he take off his helmet and tell him his name. Maximus removes his helmet and tells Commodus his name. It is arguably one of the high points of the entire movie.
The reason the speech is so powerful is because we as the audience understand everything it represents. Maximus was a respected general. Marcus Aurelius respected him more than his own son. Marcus was the “true” emperor, until Joaquin’s Commodus killed him. Maximus’ wife and son were horribly murdered. The whole movie has been building to this, to the reckoning guaranteed by Commodus’ treachery. We, as the audience, are completely on Maximus’ side, are we not?
By putting Maximus through hell, the script has generated a need for catharsis. The audience must have the catharsis of some resolution to the injustice created by Commodus. Commodus has Roman soldiers with him, but the crowd wants Maximus to live. Commodus cannot simply kill Maximus or he will lose the crowd.
Commodus allows Maximus to live and retreats out of the arena. The crowd, whom Maximus has killed many people for, has saved his life. He has become the titular gladiator and “defeated’ the emperor in a standoff. The scene is only a few minutes long, but it is packed with clever construction.
The arrowhead, for example, amounts to nothing in the sequence. Maximus does not use it in the scene. But it functions as an unexploded bomb, narratively. It adds suspense. Similarly, Commodus has young Lucius with him, and holds him in front of him at the start of the scene, essentially using him as a human shield. Again, it ultimately does not really mean anything, Lucius moves aside as the confrontation escalates, but it adds suspense.
Both in the micro details of the individual scene’s execution and in where it falls in the overarching narrative, this scene has tremendous power. Commodus’s imperial authority is a sham, and Maximus calling him on it in the most public possible literal arena is deeply emotionally satisfying.
Do you think this a great scene? Let me know in the comments below.
Different paths, all choices, methods, or actions, can take one to the same goal, eventually lead to the same result.
When a relationship falls apart, it is from more than one problem. Just as a relationship can end from cheating, growing apart or going different paths, it is not hard for an empire to end. Even if the bond between them is serious, it can collapse just like Rome. Thus all roads end in Rome. The romance is over! Has it ever happened to you? It happened to me …
“Are you not entertained?”
-
Get the Rome DELUXE edition https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/124452
-
Let me throw in a few more pictures to this free teaser. More about this iconic city is revealed in the Rome DELUXE edition. Please check the updated version on Substack in an hour as there is the email length limit.
-
MY PAST WORK, all is available for purchase on Buymeacoffee, the only US-based platform that works with Nicaraguan content creators, the only way I get paid! Browse through all my titles in the Extras section on my Buymeacoffee page. If you desperately need a bulk discount on my Ebooks, hit me, bargain, bargain hard!
-
Ebooks: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/extras
-
DONATE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF
-
SUBSCRIBE ON BUYMEACOFFEE ONLY:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/membership
ONLY $ 7 a month, $ 70 a year
-
Get the Malaysia DELUXE edition
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/124345
Get the Saint Petersburg and Moscow DELUXE edition https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/124044
Get the Iran DELUXE edition https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/123824
Get My Paradise Lost - The Die Is Cast DELUXE edition
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/123462
Get the Madagascar DELUXE edition https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/123249
Get Bad Blood Bonanza PART I Boobalicious & Bootylicious https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/106498
Get Bad Blood Bonanza PART II Beaverlicious & Delivicious https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/122925
Get the Iceland In Gloom PLATINUM Edition, Part II
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/122469
Get the South Africa Safari Maximum Experience DELUXE
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/121611
Get Cradle Of Filth, Hallowed Be! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/121158
Get Ember Signs Of The Alien Nation https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/121131
Get Bohemian Nemesis At Stake https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/121095
Get the Oman DELUXE edition https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/121081
Get USA United Satanic America https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120780
Get Drown Towards Twilight Beauty https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120745
Get Death LiveD (Dark Hymns Of Suffering) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120635
Get The Libertine https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120618
Get I Wish If Only If Only https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120606
Get Trespassing Deep Sins Of Barbed Fate https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120600
Get No Grave Robbery Of All (The Cure) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120569
Get Sagittarius Total Eclipse https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/120542
Get the Cambodia DELUXE https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/119981
Get the Iceland In Bloom DELUXE https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/119042
Get the Russian Metro DELUXE https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/119617
Get Wielding EndTime Divine, Scythed https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/e/119026
-
It takes me my whole life to crank the handle as I do and this level of commitment is only made possible through donation and subscription income. Share my hard work on your social media and across this platform if you find it worthy, spread my word around! I am most grateful for all your maximum support and privileged to have you as my reader. Thank you.
-
SUBSCRIBE ON BUYMEACOFFEE ONLY:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/membership
ONLY $ 7 a month, $ 70 a year
-
Ebooks: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF/extras
-
DONATE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lsouralF
ANY AMOUNT YOU CAN …
Roads also to bring in the resources necessary to maintain the hierarchy.
I think all stomach's end in Rome. I've never eaten as well. It's paradise. Can't believe someone wrote about Rome without once mentioning food! Neuveritelna! Just saying - iacta alea est. I missed the whole Gladiator movie, was hiding away in E.Europe all the 90s. I came back to civilization and everyone said I was the guy from Gladiator. We all have our dopplegangers. Maximus my own.