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Gladiator Quotes

“Learn from me. I wasn’t the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you’ll win your freedom.”
— Antonius Proximo, Gladiator
Tagged: Murder, Pleasing the Audience
“[in the Senate where all the senators are gathered]

Gracchus: But the Senate is the people, Sire, chosen from among the people, to speak for the people.

Commodus: I doubt if many of the people eat so well as you do, Gracchus, or have such splendid mistresses Gaius. I think I understand my own people.

Gracchus: Then perhaps Caesar would be so good as to teach us, out of his own extensive experience.

[the Senators laugh]

Commodus: I call it love. I am their father, the people are my children and I shall hold them to my bosom and embrace them tightly…

Gracchus: Have you ever embraced someone dying of plague, Sire?

[Commodus slowly turns around, he looks at Gracchus]

Commodus: No. But if you interrupt me again, I assure you that you shall.”
— Senator Gracchus:, Gladiator
Tagged: senate, caesar, Plague, interruptions
“[The senators stand at the steps of the Senate, waiting, Lucius at their side, as the new Caesar and Lucilla enter on chariot surrounded by Praetorian]

Gracchus: He enters Rome like a conquering hero. What has he conquered?

Falco: Give him time. He’s young. I think he could do very well.

Gracchus: For Rome or for you?”
— Senator Gracchus:, Gladiator
Tagged: Rome, Hero
“[addressing his new slave recruits] I am Proximo. I shall be closer to you for the next few days, which will be the last of your miserable lives, than the bitch of a mother that brought you screaming into this world. I did not pay good money for you for your company, I paid it so that I could profit from your death and as your mother was there at your beginning, so I shall be there at your end. And when you die, and die you shall, your transition shall be to the sound of…[claps his hands]...Gladiators, I salute you....[Proximo gives the gladiators a talk of encouragement before they go out for their first fight] Some of you are thinking you won’t fight, some that you can’t. They all say that until they are out there. Listen. [the crowd can be heard stamping their feet, cheering. Proximo draws a sword and starts demonstrating] Thrust this into another man’s flesh and they will applaud and love you for that. You may begin to love them for that. [he slams the blade into the table]  Ultimately, we’re all dead men, sadly we cannot choose how, but we can decide how we meet that end in order that we are remembered as men.”
— Antonius Proximo, Gladiator
Tagged: Fighting, Dying, Gladiators
“[looking at the slaves in the Slave Market]

Proximo: Do any of them fight? I’ve got a match coming up.

Slave Trader: Some are good for fighting, others for dying. You need both, I think.”
— Antonius Proximo, Gladiator
Tagged: slaves, Fighting, Dying
“[Proximo grabs hold of the slave trader’s crotch]

Proximo: Those giraffes you sold me, they won’t mate. They just walk around eating, not mating. You sold me queer giraffes. I want my money back.

Slave Trader: Not a chance. [He grunts as Proximo squeezes tighter] I’ll do a special price for you!”
— Antonius Proximo, Gladiator
Tagged: Giraffes, Queer, Homophobia
“Don’t die. They’ll feed you to the lions. They are worth more than we are.”
— Juba, Gladiator
Tagged: Fed to the lions, Death
“Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: prayer
“[one of the assassins tries to draw his sword to kill Maximus but the sword is stuck]

The frost, sometimes it makes the blade stick.

[Maximus then swings the sword at the guard, cutting him across the face and killing him]”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: swordplay, assassins, frost
“Maximus: Quintus, look at me. Look at me! Promise me that you’ll look after my family.

Quintus: Your family will meet you in the afterlife.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Family, Afterlife
“[after Maximus sees the dead body of Marcus Aurelius]

Commodus: Your Emperor asks for your loyalty, Maximus. Take my hand, I only offer it once.

Quintus: Maximus, please be careful, that was not prudent.

Maximus: Prudent! The Emperor has been slain.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: prayer, Ancestors, Honor, dignity
“Commodus: I search the faces of the gods…for ways to please you, to make you proud. One kind word, one full hug… where you pressed me to your chest and held me tight. Would have been like the sun on my heart for a thousand years. What is it in me that you hate so much?

Marcus Aurelius: Shh, Commodus.

Commodus: All I’ve ever wanted was to live up to you, Caesar. Father.

Marcus Aurelius: Commodus…

[he kneels in front of him]

Marcus Aurelius: …your faults as a son is my failure as a father. Come…

[holds his arms out to Commodus and they embrace, Commodus begins to cry]

Commodus: Father. I would have butchered the whole world…if you would only love me!

[Commodus begins to asphyxiate Marcus whilst embracing him]”
— Marcus Aurelius, Gladiator
Tagged: gods, Appeasement, Hate, caesar
“
Marcus Aurelius: Are you ready to do your duty for Rome?

Commodus: Yes, father.

Marcus Aurelius: You will not be emperor.

Commodus: Which wiser, older man is to take my place?

Marcus Aurelius: My powers will pass to Maximus, to hold in trust until the Senate is ready to rule once more. Rome is to be a republic again.

Commodus: Maximus?

Marcus Aurelius: Yes. [Marcus moves his hand to touch Commodus’ face and Commodus turns away] My decision disappoints you?

Commodus: You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues: Wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance. As I read the list, I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, father. Ambition. That can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness, courage, perhaps not on the battlefield, but…there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family, to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then it was as if you didn’t want me for your son.

Marcus Aurelius: Oh, Commodus. You go too far.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Gladiator
Tagged: Rome, Duty, emperor, Wisdom, Devotion
“Maximus: Do you find it hard to do your duty?

Cicero: Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Duty, Free Will
“Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the gods’ desire for my future. Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again. Ancestors, I honor you and will try to live with the dignity that you have taught me.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: prayer, Ancestors, Honor, dignity
“Lucilla: What did my father want with you?

Maximus: To wish me well before I leave for home.

Lucilla: You’re lying, I could always tell when you were lying because you were never any good at it.

Maximus: I never acquired your comfort with it.

Lucilla: True, but then you never had to, life is more simple for a soldier. Or do you think me heartless?

Maximus: I think you have a talent for survival.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: lying, Comfort, Soldier, Survival
“[Maximus leaves Marcus’ tent he hesitates outside. Lucilla steps out from the adjacent tent]

Lucilla: My father favors you now.

Maximus: My lady.

Lucilla: It was not always so.

Maximus: Many things change.

Lucilla: Many things, not everything.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: favoritism
“Commodus is not a moral man. You have known that since you were young. Commodus cannot rule. He must not rule [looking at Maximus] You’re the son that I should have had. Commodus will accept my decision. He knows that you command the loyalty of the army.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Moral, Loyalty, army
“
Marcus Aurelius: There is one more duty that I ask of you before you go home.

Maximus: What would you have me do Caesar?

Marcus Aurelius: I want you to become the protector of Rome after I die. I will empower you to one end alone, to give power back to the people of Rome and end the corruption that has crippled it. [Maximus looks amazed and sad] Do you accept this great honor that I have offered you?

Maximus: With all my heart, no.

Marcus Aurelius: Maximus, that is why it must be you.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: caesar, Rome
“Marcus Aurelius: When was the last time you were home?

Maximus: Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Homesick
“[Maximus enters Marcus’s darkened tent]

Marcus Aurelius: Tell me again, Maximus, why are we here?

Maximus: For the glory of the Empire, sire. Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe that they fought and died for nothing.

Marcus Aurelius: And what would you believe?

Maximus: They fought for you and for Rome.

Marcus Aurelius: And what is Rome, Maximus?

Maximus: I’ve seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

Marcus Aurelius: Yet you have never been there. You have not seen what it has become. I am dying, Maximus. When a man sees his end… he wants to know there was some purpose to his life. How will the world speak my name in years to come? Will I be known as the philosopher? The warrior? The tyrant? Or will I be the emperor who gave Rome back her true self? There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish… it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter. Maximus, let us whisper now, together you and I. You have a son?

[Maximus nods his head]

Marcus Aurelius: Tell me about your home.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Empire, Battle, glory, Rome
“[seeing his daughter Lucilla spying in through the slit in the tent wall]

Marcus Aurelius: If only you had been born a man, what a Caesar you would have made.

Lucilla: Father.

[kisses him on his cheeks]

Marcus Aurelius: You would have been strong. I wonder, would you have been just?

Lucilla: I would have been what you taught me to be.

Marcus Aurelius: Enough of politics. Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a good father.

Lucilla: This is a pleasant fiction, isn’t it?”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: caesar, Politics, Fatherhood
“Maximus: Highness, when your father releases me I intend to return home.

Commodus: Well, no one has earned it more. Don’t get too comfortable, I may call on you before long.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Going Home, comfortable
“Quintus: Maximus the farmer. I still have difficulty imagining that.

Maximus: You know dirt cleans off a lot easier than blood, Quintus.”
— General Quintus, Gladiator
Tagged: dirt, Blood, Farmer
“Commodus: Have I missed it? Have I missed the battle?

[Commodus embraces him]

Marcus Aurelius: You have missed the war.

Commodus: Father, congratulations. I shall sacrifice a hundred bulls to honor your triumph.

Marcus Aurelius: Save the bulls. Honor Maximus. He won the battle.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Gladiator
Tagged: Battle, War, Bulls, Triumph
“Marcus Aurelius: You have proved your valor yet again, Maximus. Let us hope for the last time.

Maximus: There is no one left to fight, sire.

Marcus Aurelius: There is always someone left to fight. How can I reward Rome’s greatest general?

Maximus: Let me go home.

Marcus Aurelius: Ah, home.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Fighting, Going Home
“Commodus: He’s made his decision. He’s going to announce it. He will name me. The first thing I shall do…well, is honor him with games worthy of his majesty.

Lucilla: For now, the first thing I shall do is have a hot bath.”
— Commodus, Gladiator
Tagged: decision, majesty
“[talking about their father Marcus Aurelius]

Commodus: Do you think he’s really dying?

Lucilla: He’s been dying for ten years.”
— Commodus, Gladiator
Tagged: Death, Slow Death, Chronic Suicide
“[addressing his troops] Fratres! [cavalry addresses Maximus] Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead! [cavalry laughs] Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: Hold the Line, Eternity, Elysium
“[to Quintus before the battle with Germanian troops begins]

Strength and honor. [gets on his horse and addresses Quintus again] At my signal, unleash hell.”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator
Tagged: strength, Honor, Hell
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