"Not so many patients today, doctor." "The plague is passing." "I think we've seen the worst." "Thank the gods." "Great Jupiter!" "Don'tbescared." "They're just my relatives." "We bring the death masks out each year during the Parentalia festival." "Father says it's good to be reminded that one day we'll all die." "It helps us live each day as though it were the last." "The plague means there's a good chance of that." "But we've all had it and survived." "Thanks to your father." "That's my great-grandfather." "He bought the farm in Stabia." "This is my mother." "When she laughed, her curls jiggled." "I don't think I've ever heard my mother laugh." "We all miss our mothers." "I know that." "But my mother's not dead." "I just have to pretend to father and Miriam that she is." "All this time I know she's in Rome, living with the Emperor." "She didn't have a choice, Jonathan." "She should be here." "Jonathan... ..Gaius and I are to be married next week." "You're leaving home?" "I was always going to." "I was hoping you could take over assisting father with his patients." "But I faint at the sight of blood and vomit at the smell of... ..vomit." "There's no one else." "What's he got on?" "I have a growing number of Roman patients." "They prefer a smarter, "Roman-looking" doctor." "You look much younger." "I am making a house call tonight to Helena Aurelia." "I may be back late." "THEY LAUGH" "I don't think father's changed his looks for all his patients." "What do you mean?" "I think he's done it for just one patient." "It's the third time father's visited Helena Aurelia this week." "He's only 39." "There's nothing to stop him marrying again." "Yes, there is!" "He's married to mother." "She's dead, Jonathan." "But he can't marry again." "I miss mother too." "It's difficult." "It's not difficult, it's impossible!" "You could try and see it from father's point of view." "He's lonely." "Well, I want father to be happy." "So do I, but not with her!" "She's hardly Medusa!" "If you're quick, you might catch a look." "Look at what he's doing." "I can't let him marry her." "What am I going to do, Lupus?" "Oh, it's you." "We're going to my mother's tomb." "Can you come?" "You know I can't." "How's it going?" "Up and down." "WHEEZING FROM INSIDE" "Mostly up." "Is this the residence of Doctor ben Ezra?" "Yes." "I am his son...and assistant." "I have a summons from the Senator in charge of Health." "On the instructions of the Emperor Titus himself, the Senate wishes the Doctor to come to Rome and work in the plague clinic." "I've a carriage waiting by the Roman Gate." "It would be best if we could leave within the hour." "You're going to Rome!" "You lucky thing." "Poor Jonathan." "You'll be with sick people all day and all night." "Do you think your father would let you come and help?" "There would be far too many patients for just one assistant." "One really bad doctor's assistant." "What?" "Without Doctor Mordecai you would have died, father." "Now he needs us." "It's true, we owe Mordecai a great deal." "We can stay at Aunt Cynthia's." "We really want to go." "Please?" "But if you say no I promise to obey you." "Well, I appreciate that, Flavia." "I too must show my obedience." "To the Emperor." "So if you can help Rome, then yes, you may go." "Thank you, thank you, Father!" "It will be a very good experience." "I'm going to be a doctor's assistant when I grow up!" "Flavia." "It is my responsibility to decide your future." "Please remember that." "I will, Father." "But it's not my fault you raised me like a boy!" "Where exactly are we going?" "Snake Island." "The Temple of Aesculapius, to be precise." "I've heard of Aesculapius." "He boasted that he brought a man back from the dead." "It's extremely dangerous to boast." "It's hubris." "What is who-bricks?" "It means thinking you can do things better than others, or than the gods." "I expect Jupiter blasted Aesculapius with one of his thunderbolts." "That's exactly what he did!" "But Aesculapius came back disguised as a snake, and when he swam ashore in Rome, a horrible plague stopped." "I expect the population became resistant to that particular fever." "I agree with Jonathan." "I'm sure when we return to Ostia you will have become a most able assistant." "WHEEZES AND MOANS" "Easy there, steady." "Everybody off." "Far as I can go, I'm afraid." "Who are all those people?" "They're your patients, Doctor." "Help me!" "MOANS AND SHOUTS" "Father, what is this place?" "It's a living hell." "They're herding all those who can't afford a doctor over here." "To die." "But the authorities are making it worse." "If you wanted to find the perfect place to spread the fever, then this is it." "STATELY MUSIC" "Is it Titus?" "Yes." "The Emperor's come to ask Aesculapius to stop the plague." "What is garland for?" "Titus will wear it when he's making the sacrifice." "Father, I need more herbs." "Don't worry, there will be an apothecary here on the island." "Ephedra." "It's a hundred times more effective if you drink it." "Really?" "Hm." "What do I need to pay you?" "Nothing." "I see you're wearing the Emperor's ring." "The basket!" "It's moving!" "Ah yes." "Milking time." "There is only one cure for a poisonous snake bite." "And that's the antivenin from the snake itself." "I'm going to find Titus!" "I don't think she likes snakes!" "I am Flavia Gemina, daughter of Captain Marcus Geminus, captain of the Myrtilla, of Delphina." "Stand aside." "Didn't you hear her?" "Flavia, this is a pleasure." "Come in." "Bah!" "I'm desperately worried about this fever." "It's reached epidemic proportions." "3,000 of my people have died already." "Every day brings more bad news, and no cure." "But the conditions are terrible, the sick are crushed together!" "People coughing over each other just makes the fever spread." "That is an interesting observation, Flavia, please sit." "Open up the Sacred Arches." "There'll be more space there for the doctors to treat the sick, and to keep the sick isolated." "I pray you are right, Flavia." "I'll try anything." "All plagues run their course and stop eventually." "In Ostia, the worst is over now." "I'm afraid it will end differently here." "On the Kalends of January, Jupiter appeared to me in a dream." "He said, "When a Prometheus opens a Pandora's box, Rome will be devastated."" "You had a premonition that the fever's going to destroy Rome?" "I think Jupiter was warning me about a man." "A man with the power to ruin us." "By opening a Pandora's box?" "What does that mean?" "When someone opens a Pandora's Box, it means they set in motion a whole series of bad events." "You see, Flavia, what if the plague is just the beginning?" "If you're right, we have to stop this Prometheus, before he does anything else." "I've got everyone working on it." "Astrologers, advisers, the learned men of the Senate." "No-one is any closer to identifying him." "Can I try?" "I beg your pardon?" "Can I try to solve your dream?" "My friends are here too." "They can help." "Please." "I'll try anything." "If you are successful, you can expect a reward." "In the meantime, you and your friends must be my guests at the Golden House." "Flavia, Nubia - that is your room." "Boys, this is your room." "Jonathan, I hope your quarters are more comfortable this time?" "Your arm's healing?" "Yes, thank you." "Well, I will take my leave of you." "Agathus?" "Do you know where my mother is?" "She is here in the Golden House." "Would you like to see her now?" "Very much." "Be careful, Jonathan." "Remember why we're here!" "Pandora and Pandora's Box." "Titus gave us this room deliberately." "He expects us to solve dream in sleep?" "That's Jupiter." "Titus told me the story." "Jupiter gave the box to Pandora and told her never, ever to open it." "Well...did she?" "What do you do when you're told never, ever to do something?" "Oh!" "Look at you!" "You've really grown in the last six months." "You need a new tunic, and those sandals need cleaning." "I can look after myself." "Don't worry." "But I want to worry!" "But you've done so much for me." "I know you gave up your freedom for mine." "Of course." "I love you." "Come on." "So what are you doing here?" "Jonathan?" "Father's in Rome too." "You brought him to Rome?" "You promised you would not tell him I was alive." "I kept my promise." "But things were taken out of my hands." "Now I want to bring him to you." "Please can I?" "No!" "No, you can't!" "Do you still love him?" "Of course I do." "Then please will you see him?" "Please, just once?" "Jonathan, there isn't a way." "I cannot see your father." "It would put us all in danger." "What kind of danger?" "Titus is very jealous and very powerful." "But it's all wrong, you and father should be together." "There is no right and wrong, just the Emperor's will." "You don't understand!" "Father has met someone else." "That is...welcome news." "You don't mean that, you can't!" "You must go." "Titus will be here soon." "I hate him." "SHE SOBS" "Mother, don't cry." "That's Josephus, the historian." "If anyone knows about Pandora and Prometheus, it'll be him." "Josephus, can we ask you something?" "Questions are a historian's constant companion." "We're trying to solve the Emperor's dream and we need to find out about Prometheus." "And about Pandora's Box." "Ah, the box that let out destruction into the world." "You think it was real?" "I believe it was the Ark of the Covenant." "A boat?" "A box." "But for the Jews, it was the most sacred box on earth, covered in gold." "What's inside it?" "Many holy relics." "The Ten Commandments and a cup of manna from heaven." "But holy relics are good, not the nasty things in Pandora's Box." "That depends on who you are." "Once, according to legend, our enemies captured the Ark from the Temple of God in Jerusalem." "What happened to them?" "They got boils and tumours and died of the plague." "HE COUGHS" "I feel peculiar, I think it's the fever." "Where do you think the Ark is now?" "Nobody knows." "Some say Berenice's brother carried it away before Titus's soldiers set light to the Temple, when he sacked Jerusalem." "But I think the Ark was burnt up in that fire." "People are saying it's because of that the reign of Titus has become blighted." "And that this year is going to be the worst." "Now, if you'll excuse me." "I hope I have helped you with Pandora's Box." "Yes, yes, you have." "Thank you." "But what about Prometheus?" "It's all there." "Greek and Latin." "I read dozens of scrolls, and I know everything about Prometheus now." "He stole fire from Jupiter to give it to man." "Prometheus thought he knew better than Jupiter." "Yes, hubris again." "And he paid for it." "Jupiter nailed Prometheus to a mountain and got a vulture to peck out his liver." "That is really cruel." "It gets worse." "Because Prometheus is immortal, every night his liver grows back and every day the vulture pecks it out again." "He was tortured forever." "But you didn't come to the library." "Didn't need to." "It's all over our bedroom wall." "It's not exactly restful." "SHE SIGHS" "Titus is desperate for someone to work out his dream." "He's convinced that Prometheus is going to destroy Rome." "Jonathan, why aren't you listening?" "Don't you care?" "Actually, not much." "I saw my mother." "She's so miserable." "I'm sorry." "What about you, Lupus?" "Did you find anything?" "Prometheus showed man how to mix medicines." "That's good work, Lupus." "Prometheus was the first doctor." "Maybe that's it?" "The new Prometheus is a doctor." "Why would a doctor start a plague?" "If he cured people of it, he'd become famous and make lots of money." "But if it got out of control, it could devastate Rome." "I think we should go and talk to some doctors over at Snake Island." "THEY CHATTER EXCITEDLY" "Where are they going?" "Come on!" "Can you see him?" "He's over there!" "Who's here?" "Who's coming?" "Queen Berenice." "Berenice?" "Why has she come back?" "She was so jealous of my mother she hired three assassins to kill her." "What if she's come back to try again?" "Perhaps Titus has decided to marry Berenice after all." "Maybe it's a good thing she's here." "It's never a good thing when Berenice is around." "This is what she did to me, just because Titus looked at me!" "I'm going to follow her." "You go to Snake Island without me." "THEY SPLUTTER AND GROAN" "That smells nice." "Is it jasmine?" "You've got a good nose!" "So have you!" "I'm sorry.." "I mean..." "Don't worry!" "Everyone stares." "I don't mind." "My nose is my livelihood." "Come in." "Flavia Gemina." "Cosmos." "One of the Emperor's freed men, and the best doctor in Rome." "I don't mean to be rude, but isn't that hubris?" "It's the truth." "HE INHALES DEEPLY" "For breakfast, you had goat's cheese on bread, washed down with well-watered spiced wine." "That's amazing, you're right!" "You see!" "I sniff out disease and sense the cure." "You smell healthy to me, Flavia." "I am." "But suppose I got the fever, what do you suggest I do?" "Nothing." "Nothing?" "I fast my patients." "Isn't that dangerous?" "If someone is very young, or old?" "My methods are both proven and highly successful." "Well, thank you." "HE PRAYS" "HE GARGLES" "My medicine also cures jaundice, leprosy and gangrene, among hundreds of other ailments!" "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" "Sorry, can't do much about that." "But I can make your teeth nicer though, if you gargle with it." "Would you like to try?" "This is particularly fresh." "Best is your own though." "First thing in the morning." "The mid-stream urine." "HE GULPS LOUDLY" "COUGHING AND MOANING" "I cannot bear this." "I must say, colleague, that I am opposed to blood-letting during this pestilence." "Blood-letting is a proven method." "It helps almost every condition." "But not, with respect, the fever." "Taking blood weakens those already suffering." "If blood causes decay, blood is bad." "Where are you from?" "Ostia." "Oh, the provinces." "I believe blood is good." "Our Holy Book says that the life is in the blood." "When you pour out blood, you pour out life." "Yes, well, I choose to believe the work of respected physicans, and not the writings of holy men." "If Diaulus is right, then why has the body-cart called at his cell three times this morning?" "Titus!" "Why have you come back?" "Please don't be angry with me." "Berenice..." "I need to know for certain, and I need to hear it from you." "Is there really no future for us?" "You know there isn't." "But you are the Emperor!" "Only because I have the support of the Senate and they refused to let us marry." "Nothing's changed." "Neither have my feelings." "Berenice, we agreed." "No, no, we did not." "You sent me away." "I still love you." "After you left, I made a promise to the Senate." "I said I would dedicate my life to Rome." "Only to Rome?" "Yes." "And Susannah?" "You obviously still have your palace spies." "I have my loyal servants." "No, you have nothing anymore." "So, you do love her!" "You took a great risk in coming here." "Just tell me the truth." "The truth... ..is that I still care about you, despite your absurd jealousy." "You waited many years to become my wife, and you were cruelly disappointed." "We both were." "I should have you punished for plotting to kill Susannah last year, but I won't." "Instead, I'm giving you two choices." "You can leave immediately in your royal coach, or I can have you escorted out of Rome under armed guard." "The choice is yours." "I will go quietly." "Berenice... ..Goodbye." "Goodbye, Caesar." "We can rule out Lupus' doctor." "The worst Egnatius will do is make his patients feel queasy." "Who knows, maybe it works." "Many of my doctor's patients die." "He bleeds the life out of them." "Mine just lets his patients die." "He starves them to death." "Hubris." "Lupus is right." "For either of the doctors to be the new Prometheus they have to think they know best." "Cosmos thinks he is one step down from Jupiter." "Diaulus thinks he is one step up!" "I think we should tell Titus." "You won't have to worry about your mother anymore." "I still don't trust her." "She is up to something." "Who is this slave?" "Susannah?" "You will never see your mother again!" "Don't be afraid!" "My mother's been poisoned!" "The Ark Of The Covenant." "To open the secret books is to be cursed." "I'm going to do it for Jonathan!" "Rome will be destroyed!" "One..." "Is she going to die?" "Two..." "Yes." "Three!"