"My mother is alive." "I dreamt about her." "Yes, I'll find her." "Jonathan's gone to Rome to find his mother." "We thought she was dead." "She is." "Your mother is alive, she's a slave in Titus's Golden House." "Why are you looking for them?" "Are you going to kill Titus?" "He's the only one who can protect your mother." "We'll go after him." "You must not follow him, it's too dangerous!" "Guards!" "Find out what he knows about the third assassin." "Three assassins were hired to come to Rome." "Simeon!" "I worked in the Golden House, but Berenice didn't like me." "Why?" "Jealous." "Who wouldn't be, eh?" "I'm 25, she's almost 50!" "She saw Titus looking at me." "And then..." "I was out like a bolt out of a ballista." "You are beautiful enough to be an empress." "I just love you, my little tom-cat." "Rrrr!" "The Golden House is Berenice's quarters?" "Yes, but she's not there any more." "Titus sent her away six months ago." "Maybe he got tired of her, who knows?" "Do you remember a slave called Susannah?" "There are dozens of Susannahs!" "Common as donkey dung." "At least Huldah stands out." "Why are you so interested?" "We're trying to find our friend." "Well, he won't get in." "What do you mean?" "It's locked down." "The Golden House." "Locked down?" "No-one can get in or out." "There's a plot to assassinate the Emperor." "They've caught two - one scaled a wall." "One got in disguised as a wandering musician." "He was somebody famous." "They're looking for a third." "Did either have a boy with him?" "The famous one." "They got in as a father and son double act." "Jonathan!" "We must tell Titus he is innocent!" "You won't get in." "They'll have to let us in, we're only children." "They let one kid in - look what happened." "Huldah, we have to get in." "Can you help us?" "Are you mad?" "!" "Can you do it?" "I think so." "Yes, there is a way." "That's a fine necklace." "You weren't wearing that before." "It's a gift from a woman gladiator." "Lisartica!" "She's really famous." "She's training for the Colosseum." "I'll help you for that." "It's nothing to me." "Huldah, please!" "Jonathan's life's in danger." "I'll draw you a map." "Get to the shrine at nine." "Titus worships there every morning." "Stay away from the main corridors, they'll be swarming with guards." "He's in here." "Here, boy." "Bite on this." "The pain will be quite severe." "Mother?" "MYSTERIOUS MURMUR" "Cyclops!" "Do not be afraid!" "JONATHAN GROANS" "Lupus, you're time-keeping." "I'll be maps." "Nubia..." "Nubia?" "Slave outfits!" "Nubia, you're brilliant!" "Quick, find two more!" "I'm Rizpah." "Jonathan." "That looks disgusting!" "You have bad manners." "But you're handsome." "Oh, yeah." "Covered in dirt, festering arm, I feel very handsome today." "Rat!" "Kitten." "Bianca was born down here." "Like me." "I've never been outside." "Not once." "When did you come here?" "Nine-and-a-half years ago." "In my mother's stomach." "My father was one of the legionaries who took Jerusalem by force." "Here I was born and here I'll die." "And they call me a pessimist." "DOOR OPENS" "Rizpah, is there a woman down here called Susannah bat Jonah?" "She's my mother." "This way!" "Left, right, right again." "We should be at the shrine then." "Lupus, what's the time?" "Five past eight." "We've still got time." "Make that right, left, left again." "Excuse me." "Do you know Susannah bat Jonah?" "Where I can find her?" "Do you know where she is?" "What about you?" "Can somebody please tell me what's going on?" "Follow me." "I will take you to your mother." "This way." "No, this." "Nubia?" "You're not telling me what to do." "I'm in charge and we're going right." "You are in charge and we're wrong." "Lupus!" "We have to get to Titus!" "Huldah sent us down a secret corridor." "The shrine should be at the end of it." "Unfortunately, she didn't mention dead ends." "There must be a way out." "Maybe that's secret, too." "DOOR CREAKS" "LUPUS CALLS OUT" "Hmm..." "The Golden House was designed around the all-seeing Glass Eye." "Lots of tunnels and hidden corridors so that" "Emperor Nero's spies could come and go without being seen." "Why?" "He thought everyone was out to get him." "He wasn't wrong." "I like them." "It's a fast way of getting around." "I hope Titus hasn't got to Jonathan." "Where is he?" "It should be nine." "You need to learn to tell the time." "You need to learn how to read maps." "What are we going to do?" "What are you doing?" "Slacking off!" "?" "Get to work." "Now!" "All the latrines this side of the eye." "Are you new?" "Er, yes, we're all new." "We were brought in because...em, a lot of the slave-children have been ill." "You don't look like you've done a day's work in your life." "Here!" "Strangers in the House." "To the dungeons!" "We are in the poo now." "Get in there!" "It could be one of them!" "The assassin." "What's the squirt gonna do?" "Bounce up and down on Titus's foot?" "What happened to the boy with the second assassin?" "They all go the same way..." "We have to get out of here." "We must find Titus, wherever he is." "I leave you here." "At the bottom of these steps is the Cyclops Cave." "That is where you must go." "Follow Bianca." "She will bring you back." "But wait!" "Rizpah!" "Ah!" "Get off, you flea-bitten fur ball!" "Nero really was nuts." "Mother?" "Mother." "Mother!" "Mother!" "My child!" "SUSANNAH COUGHS" "It's just the wool dust from the loom." "You need mallow boiled in milk." "Or a tincture of rye-grass." "You're as learned as your father." "How is he?" "Lonely..." "We all miss you." "Miriam is engaged to be married." "I have prayed every day that you all managed to escape Jerusalem." "Mother, why didn't you come?" "As I said goodbye to my parents for the last time, my father collapsed, his heart had stopped." "I couldn't leave him." "He died in my arms." "When I got back to the gate, you'd gone." "I'm sorry." "Don't cry, Mother." "It's not your fault." "This is getting us nowhere!" "We'll never find Titus in time." "We've got to get out of here." "You're in danger." "In danger?" "From who?" "I don't know any of the answers." "We can use the tunnels to escape." "Escape?" "I've lost you once." "I'm not leaving you behind again." "The Cyclops Cave." "I know where we are now." "Jonathan!" "My friends!" "Susannah." "The third assassin!" "HE CRIES OUT" "Don't let him get away!" "GLASS BREAKS Aargh!" "The Glass Eye!" "Lupus, watch out!" "HE SCREAMS" "We've found the emperor." "It is Pineas from Piraeus." "The third assassin." "Simeon was not lying." "We need to talk to you." "Really important." "Find out what they want." "And prepare a feast in their honour, whoever they are." "I must go and collect my possessions." "Why can't we go now?" "My mother's ring, my father's Torah." "They're all I have of my parents." "I will meet you here in an hour." "After dusk." "Wait for me." "I will." "Hurry now." "I want to see Jonathan." "Why do we have to go to this banquet anyway?" "I no want to go." "Titus is a bad man." "That's not true." "He is helping people." "He doesn't help those in Jerusalem." "They were enemies." "They were Jonathan and his family." "I hope he is still alive." "Of course he is." "Why wouldn't he be?" "I no trust anybody here." "I only feel better when I see him." "Thanks, but I'm not hungry." "Susannah, I have some news which may please you, my dear." "Oh, yes?" "Some children have come from Ostia." "Your son was amongst them." "Jonathan." "Perhaps now that he's here, you'll be happier and... finally return my affections." "But Jonathan is freeborn, Titus." "I can't bear the thought of my son growing up here, imprisoned in this artificial world!" "Why give up the chance of having him with you?" "He showed courage in coming to Rome." "I could favour him, groom him for great things." "No!" "I'm begging you." "My son's home is in Ostia with his father and sister, not here." "Please let him go... and let me go, too." "Susannah... because I love you..." "I will grant you your request." "Your son may return." "I shall give him a signet ring." "If anyone mistakes him for my slave, he has only has to show the ring." "And you, my dearest, Susannah," "you will stay with me." "Everything comes at a price." "FEAST MUSIC PLAYS" "Titus, we're worried about Jonathan." "Don't be." "The whole palace is looking for him." "We'll find him." "In the meantime, enjoy Simeon's music." "That's Simeon?" "He entered lion's den to save sister." "Brave." "The person who hired him had no idea he was" "Susannah's brother or that he would never kill her." "He had to try to warn me in secret." "After all, who would let a known assassin into the Golden House?" "But who hired the assassins?" "It was only after the third assassin tried to kill" "Susannah that we believed Simeon's story and stopped torturing him." "He's blind!" "But he can still play his wonderful music." "Don't feel too sorry for him." "Simeon's killed a lot of people." "Not nearly as many as you!" "Very good." "Very good." "More wine for our honoured guests." "Well-watered, of course!" "Over here!" "He's frozen half to death!" "We not go without Jonathan." "Titus said he's coming." "I don't believe him!" "If he said Jonathan's coming, then he is." "He may be a lot of things, but he's not a liar." "Jonathan!" "ROYAL FANFARE" "I have freed the slave women, those who wish to leave." "Mother!" "Berenice has no use for them now." "She won't be returning to Rome." "Why?" "I have forbidden it." "What has she done?" "She has displeased me." "It was Berenice who hired the assassins to murder Susannah." "She's a very jealous woman." "He set you free, that's why you didn't come." "I thought you weren't coming." "Like last time in Jerusalem." "But everything's all right now." "Jonathan, listen..." "We'll be with Father and Miriam." "They won't believe it!" "You mustn't tell them." "Tell them what?" "That I'm alive." "It would break their hearts." "What are you saying?" "I'm not coming with you." "This is my home now." "I don't understand." "I don't expect you to." "Please just always remember that I love you." "I love you, Jonathan, with all my heart, but I cannot return to Ostia." "Goodbye, my son." "Someone tell me this isn't happening." "Titus is setting the women in the Golden House free, and you've decided to stay!" "Yes." "Yes, she has." "Go, go!" "Now!" "Drive!" "Something bad always happens on my birthday." "Perhaps now you'll believe me." "I am partial to fresh dates." "Titus has been generous." "The children did save his life, Gaius." "Yes, but how can you ever repay a debt like that?" "You can't." "The reward is in the act itself." "And the Emperor knows that." "The gifts are a sign of his gratitude, like the ring he gave Jonathan." "No, he gave me that because I got branded - by accident." "Father, may I be excused?" "Jonathan's been so quiet since you all returned." "Did something happen in Rome that you haven't told me?" "It's a sukkah." "It means shelter." "It reminds us of the days when the Jewish people wandered the desert." "You're wrong." "She doesn't." "She chose Titus over me." "You heard something?" "I don't understand." "What do you mean she doesn't care for him?" "She traded her freedom for mine." "Is that what you're saying?" "Then she does love me." "You're right." "You see and hear things well and understand things better than most." "Lupus, I'm sorry I called you... what I called you." "Will you forgive me?" "Are we allowed?" "We bring favourite honey cake!" "Come on, then!"