"Catch of the day!" "Catch of the day!" "Newly landed." "Just like you." "Take a look." "I'm looking for a doctor." "Mordecai ben Ezra." "I believe he lives here in Ostia." "Well, er, he might do." "Green Fountain Street." "Keep the fish." "I tell you, something bad always happens on my birthday." "Jonathan, in the past month, you've survived a volcano eruption, come out of a coma and sunk a shipload of pirates." "What else could possibly happen?" "Go on, open another present." "A new wax tablet." "Great(!" ") Something bad will happen." "It always does." "Last year, I stepped on a wasp and my foot swelled up like a melon." "The year before that..." "A jar?" "!" "Pulchra's rolling in it, so it probably cost more than Nubia." "Careful, Lupus!" "You stupid mute!" "Lupus!" "Wait!" "You're rude!" "And ungrateful!" "The smell makes me feel sad, Father." "I think I've smelt it before." "Lemon blossom." "It was your mother's favourite perfume." "She wore nothing else." "Father?" "It's all in the past." "Nine years ago." "I don't want to discuss Jerusalem." "But I do!" "You said you'd tell me exactly what happened to Mother when I got older." "How much older do I have to get?" "Titus...and his troops, several thousand of them, were bearing down on the city." "We all knew they were intent on taking the city at any cost." "Any cost." "Human life is worthless to the Romans." "Unlike the Zealots, I knew we couldn't defeat Titus." "What about Mother?" "What did she think?" "She was my wife, and I made the decisions, and I decided we had to leave." "Why didn't Mother come with us?" "I don't know why!" "We had arranged to meet at the North Gate." "She was saying goodbye to her family." "I waited and I waited with you and your sister." "People were leaving in droves." "All the carts were taken." "Still she didn't arrive!" "It got down to the very last cart, and we had four seats on it." "You left Mother behind?" "No." "I had to choose." "I chose to leave my wife behind so that I could escape with you and your sister." "And I have to live with what I did, Jonathan." "Just as you do." "I weave all day and undo what I've woven at night." "I wait for him every day." "Mother?" "Is that you?" "Are you still alive?" "EERIE VOICE" "The Cyclops!" "Do not be afraid." "RAISED VOICES" "No, you are trying to deceive me, just as you did Susannah!" "Brother, you must listen to what I have to say." "No!" "ARGUMENT CONTINUES" "Come in." "Father, we need to deliver a baby." "There's a man waiting to take us." "Please, leave my house." "You have to hear me out." "No, Simeon, I don't trust a word you say." "Susannah is dead, and that's the end to it." "Who put you up to this, boy?" "I live here!" "Jonathan!" "I'm sorry." "I didn't think anyone was in the house." "I'm Simeon, your uncle." "Father said that you died in the siege of Jerusalem." "No." "I was captured and taken as one of the Emperor's slaves." "You've run away." "If you're caught, you'll be crucified." "Which is why no-one must recognise me." "Simeon?" "What were you trying to tell my father?" "Some say long hair is a disgrace to a man, but we consider it a mark of bravery and courage." "Mother's alive, isn't she?" "I dreamt about her." "She is alive." "I know she is!" "Yes." "Your mother is in Rome." "I'm going to find her." "Why's she in Rome?" "What's she doing there?" "Jonathan, I'm leaving now." "Can I come with you?" "No!" "Please!" "I suppose no-one will pay me much attention if they think I'm just a father travelling with his son." "It will be dangerous." "I'm not afraid." "Jonathan's been kidnapped!" "Lupus saw him riding away on a horse with a stranger." "That was no stranger." "It was Simeon." "You know him?" "My wife's brother." "That's all right, then." "No, you don't understand." "Jonathan left this for you." "It's worse than I thought." "He's tricked Jonathan." "I must go after my son." "Tricked him how?" "Mordecai, what are you talking about?" "Openthedoors!" "What on earth is that?" "Search the living quarters!" "They're private living quarters!" "Nothing's private when harbouring a sicarius." "What is sicarius?" "A Jewish assassin." "During the Jewish revolt, they were freedom fighters, the Zealots." "My brother-in-law." "I haven't seen him for nine years." "Since Jerusalem." "Why are you looking for him?" "He is planning an assassination." "Maybe Simeon wanted Jonathan to be a sicarius too." "Captain!" "The beard of a sicarius!" "We'll have him now!" "A Zealot's little sica is no match for a Roman sword." "Take him away." "No!" "Gaius, look after Jonathan!" "Uncle Gaius, what are we going to do?" "You can't lock us in here!" "But it's safe." "And while your father's away, I've got to look after you." "We've got to go after Jonathan!" "And do what?" "Fight knived men with your bare hands?" "You are staying right here." "Where are you going?" "I'm off to see Pollius Felix in the vain hope that he can help Mordecai." "Our friend's in danger and we're locked in a bedroom." "And all you can think about is weaving string?" "Nubian tribe secret strength, passed mother to daughter." "Right(!" ")" "We've got to get to Rome." "What did Simeon say to Jonathan, anyway?" "It must have been really important for Jonathan to leave in the night with someone he's never met." "It doesn't make sense." "Maybe it does now." "Please." "I lost everything when the mountain exploded." "Please help." "Is this where Mother lives?" "No." "It's where we're staying tonight." "Why can't we go straight to Mother?" "We will soon, I promise." "I have to go out for a while." "Can I come too?" "I don't much like it here." "No." "It's better if you stay here." "But I..." "Just be patient." "It won't be long." "Oi!" "Watch where you're throwing that!" "Nubian tribe not needing to dangle elephants." "Usually." "Ow!" "MOANING AND WAILING" "Water!" "I'm dying of thirst." "Ten minutes." "Doctor?" "Flavia!" "That is my cellmate." "He is sick, and I fear for his life." "As I do for my son's." "Any word?" "Uncle Gaius is talking with Pollius Felix." "Doctor, we haven't got long." "I need to ask you something." "The wax tablet Jonathan left for you..." "What about it?" "I erased it." "No, you didn't." "Lupus managed to read some of Jonathan's letter." "That was a private correspondence between myself and my son." "We're sorry." "Jonathan's gone to Rome to find his mother." "We thought she was dead." "She is." "Simeon lied to Jonathan to trick him into going." "Susannah was murdered by Titus and his troops in Jerusalem." "What if she wasn't?" "I've never allowed myself to think otherwise." "Anything else would be too painful." "It would mean... she CHOSE not to leave Jerusalem, that she chose her beliefs over her family." "What do you mean?" "That she stayed in Jerusalem with freedom fighters, with Simeon and Yoseph." "Time!" "MAN GROANS" "Venalicius!" "Why are you helping him?" "I am a doctor." "I took an oath." "But he killed Nubia's family and enslaved her." "God knows who else!" "Lupus?" "Are you all right?" "Pollius Felix sent him to trial, and I get to do the honours." "If he doesn't die first." "If he's found guilty?" "Certain death." "Certain, horrible death." "We start with the toenails, then we pull everything else out to match." "I like you." "Want a job?" "Flavia!" "You must not follow him." "It would be too dangerous!" "Do you know what this is?" "It's a key." "A key to the Imperial Palace - the Golden House, to be precise." "And this is your key." "We're father and son, travelling." "musicians." "Titus likes his music." "Titus?" "What do you want with the Emperor?" "I need to give him an urgent message." "What sort of message?" "My mother's not really in Rome, is she?" "You just lied to me so I'd help you." "What are you really doing here?" "You're going to kill Titus, aren't you?" "Look, I mean Titus no harm." "But only he can protect your mother." "You're lying!" "If Mother was alive, she'd have found us." "It's been nine and a half years." "It was just another of my stupid dreams." "Your dream was true, Jonathan." "Your mother is alive." "I promise you." "Susannah is a slave in Titus's Golden House, a prisoner." "How do you know all this?" "It's better you don't know any details." "Too much knowledge can be dangerous." "Too little's worse." "I've deliberately not told you more than you need to know." "Why?" "!" "Because if they torture you, you've got nothing to tell them!" "So do you trust me?" "Will you come to the Golden House with me?" "I'm not sure if I trust you." "But yes." "Yes, I will come." "Plenty to eat for the journey." "Don't touch the fruit!" "Whoa there!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "Easy, girl, easy." "Easy." "We ain't going nowhere." "The traffic these days is terrible." "You were lucky I took you, seeing as you didn't have the full fare." "HORSE NEIGHS" "Easy, Barasus, Bodiscus!" "Got beautiful names, haven't they?" "Not as beautiful as Huldah, mind." "Huldah, Huldah, Huldah." "I can hear it in the wind." "Huldah's my girlfriend." "Squeezable as a peach." "She used to be a royal slave girl." "Classy." "In the Emperor's Golden House up on Palatine Hill." "Now she works in the Owl Tavern." "You got somewhere to stay in Rome, then?" "Yes, I've got it all sorted." "But you ain't got no money left." "Friends in high places." "If they find this on me, we'll be hanging off a cross before we can blink." "Good afternoon to you." "We're travelling musicians." "We've come to play for the Emperor." "That won't be possible, I'm afraid." "We can't just let anybody play." "I understand that, but I am skilled at the barbiton, and my son is gifted on the tambourine." "The Emperor's brother is having a banquet tonight." "Perform for Domitian, and if he likes you, then you can play for Titus." "Please enter." "I hope you find your friends." "Rome is so big." "How will we find Jonathan here?" "Everything will be fine." "I've got it all under control." "Come on." "Can you direct us to Via Aurelia?" "HE REPLIES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE" "We'll hire a litter." "Aunt Cynthia will pay at the other end." "Come on." "Over there!" "Look!" "The Coliseum!" "What is those twigs over it?" "Scaffolding, I think." "She is Nubian too." "She die with the lions?" "Maybe." "But not necessarily." "If she wins enough fights, she'll be given a wooden sword." "That won't help her." "It's what they give great gladiators when their fighting days are over and they're freed from slavery." "Like you." "Oi!" "Lupus!" "A thousand houses, a thousand doors." "Behind one of them, maybe Jonathan." "You are too kind." "Yafeh niganta, Simeon." "Todda." "Yoseph ben Matthias." "Not any more." "You may call me Josephus." "Everyone thought you died in Jerusalem." "I survived." "Like you, I see, Josephus." "We have the second assassin." "Really?" "He doesn't look big enough." "Not the boy." "Are you sure?" "Absolutely." "This is Simeon the Sicarius." "Guards!" "Hurry!" "Find out what he knows about the third assassin." "Get a name!" "Wait!" "No need to bother the Emperor." "More wine!" "Oh, and a big show for Simeon the Sicarius." "The works." "Dip him in tar, then burn him alive - well, half alive - then crucify him." "Personally, I think the first assassin got off lightly." "Died in hours." "This one's got to go on for days." "As for the boy, brand him and put him with the other Jewish slaves." "Simeon!" "Simeon!" "Don't worry." "Aunt Cynthia keeps a house full of staff." "At least two cooks!" "Is Lady Cynthia Caecilia in?" "Who wants her?" "Flavia Gemina, daughter of Marcus Flavius Geminus, sea captain." "Her niece." "They've gone away to their villa in Tuscany." "Won't be back until the calends of October." "Nobody told me about this." "Come back in two weeks." "No!" "Wait!" "Please let us in." "We've nowhere else to go." "We need somewhere to sleep tonight." "Sorry." "40 sesterci, please, miss." "How can it be 40 sesterci?" "That's twice as much as the fare from Ostia." "She's right." "You'll take no more than ten sesterci." "Or I'll have to mention it to Senator Cornix." "Off you go now, boys." "And up you get, Miss Flavia." "My name is Sisyphus, your aunt's secretary." "Do please come in." "Sorry about Bulbus." "He's a very good doorkeeper, but he's got the brains of an onion." "Jonathan came to Rome because he thought his mother was here." "If she IS alive and we can find her, maybe we can find Jonathan." "Let's think." "A well-off Jewish family, you say?" "Yes, before the destruction of Jerusalem." "Ah, yes." "Now all the riches of Judea lie with the Emperor." "His suppression of the Jewish revolt paid for that overblown bear-pit, the Colosseum." "If the slaves Titus captured were put to manual work, what happened to the women, the wives and children?" "A high-born Jewish woman would be snapped up!" "Cream of the crop went to Berenice." "My dear, you mean you've never heard the story of Titus and Berenice?" "Berenice is Titus's girlfriend - ex- girlfriend, if you believe the rumours." "Absolutely gorgeous to look at, beautiful Jewish queen, men willing to die for her, and so on." "But underneath, ruthless and single-minded as a gladiator." "Wouldn't want to be Titus having Berenice as an ex." "Where do her slave women live?" "The Golden House." "Thank you." "You've helped solve our next clue." "I have?" "Good." "Can I tell you about Titus and Berenice?" "It's a real tear-jerker." "And I know how to get in." "You can't." "It's not a visitor's attraction!" "Feles the cart-driver." "His girlfriend Huldah was a slave there." "Come on!" "But it's out of bounds to the public!" "Come back!" "It's late!" "Thanks, Sisyphus!" "I'm going to die, Jonathan." "No." "You left the dagger outside!" "Just tell them the truth, Simeon!" "No-one will believe me!" "Even the man that fought by me would betray me." "Three assassins were hired in Corinth to come to Rome." "I was one of them." "You said you meant Titus no harm." "I don't." "It wasn't the Emperor I was hired to kill." "But if not Titus, who?" "Simeon!" "Simeon!" "Who's the third assassin?" "Who's he trying to kill?" "Jonathan's life's in danger." "We must get in the Golden House." "Are you mad?" "Do you know where Susannah is?" "She's my mother." "There's a plot to assassinate you." "Avoid the corridors." "They'll be swarming with guards." "Could be one of them." "The third assassin!" "We must tell Titus that Jonathan's innocent." "This is getting us nowhere." "Mother?" "Watch out!"