TV Review: Rome- “De Patre Vostro” (About Your Father)

Well, it figures, I start reviewing a show, and it ends three episodes later. Yes, I knew it got canceled after Season 2, and that it would end soon when I started this, I just wish it hadn’t. And now that it’s gone, and Battlestar Galactica is on hiatus until next January, I have nothing to watch on Sunday nights. I will review earlier episodes of Rome, if I get my hands on them.

The Episode

The final episode of “Rome” cannot, in my opinion, be called “good,” especially after stellar episodes of the earlier season. It does wrap up the story, but in a rather clumsy way- Timon is never heard from again, after he kills his brother, the re-union between Vorenus and Pullo is rather weak, and the final days of Antony and Cleopatra do a disservice to both character. Atia, who served no purpose in the episode, provides the only good scene of it- her confrontation with Livia. Everything else is rushed, incomplete, half-baked, or not addressed. A disappointing end to an otherwise excellent series.

6/10

The History

The list of errors is quite long, so long in fact, I’m not sure where to begin.

1) Let’s start from the beginning- the title is wrong. “About Your Father” should be, in Latin, “De Patre Vestro.”

2) The main event- the death of Antony and Cleopatra is surprisingly accurate, by “Rome’s” standard. However, even here they make several errors. The part with Cleopatra lying to Antony about her death is correct. However, this was not done to sell out to Caesar, but because Antony thought he was betrayed, and was furious with her. So, she locked herself in her tomb, and sent a message to him, claiming that she is dead. Distraught, Antony killed himself. Of course, Lucius Vorenus was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a slave named Eros, whom Antony asked to kill him. He held out the sword, but found himself unable to kill his master, and stabbed himself in the stomach instead. Antony thanked him for showing him the way to do it, and proceeded to do the same.
However, here, the similarities end. Antony did not die immediately. He was still alive, bleeding profusely from his stomach wound. Then, another messenger arrived from Cleopatra, asking him to come to her tomb (and, presumably, informing that she was alive). Antony, then, took the last journey of his life to meet with his beloved, one last time. Plutarch describes the meeting in his Lives

Having learned, then, that Cleopatra was alive, Antony eagerly ordered his servants to raise him up, and he was carried in their arms to the doors of her tomb. Cleopatra, however, would not open the doors, but showed herself at a window, from which she let down ropes and cords. To these Antony was fastened, and she drew him up herself, with the aid of the two women whom alone she had admitted with her into the tomb. Never, as those who were present tell us, was there a more piteous sight. Smeared with blood and struggling with death he was drawn up, stretching out his hands to her even as he dangled in the air. For the task was not an easy one for the women, and scarcely could Cleopatra, with clinging hands and strained face, pull up the rope, while those below called out encouragement to her and shared her agony. And when she had thus got him in and laid him down, she rent her garments over him, beat and tore her breasts with her hands, wiped off some of his blood upon her face, and called him master, husband, and imperator; indeed, she almost forgot her own ills in her pity for his. But Antony stopped her lamentations and asked for a drink of wine, either because he was thirsty, or in the hope of a speedier release. When he had drunk, he advised her to consult her own safety, if she could do it without disgrace, and among all the companions of Caesar to put most confidence in Proculeius, and not to lament him for his last reverses, but to count him happy for the good things that had been his, since he had become most illustrious of men, had won greatest power, and now had been not ignobly conquered, a Roman by a Roman.

Caesar learned of this, and “wept for a man who had been his relation by marriage, his colleague in office and command, and his partner in many undertakings and struggles.” (this may or may not be true, of course). Cleopatra tried to kill herself, but she was, at this point, a captive of Caesar in all but name, and his men prevented her from doing it. He allowed Cleopatra to bury Antony, and treated her well, although she was ill from a fever (the result of her tearing her breasts, see above). She did not wish to take food, and wanted to starve herself, but Caesar threatened her children, if that were to happen. Finally, her people were able to smuggle a pair of snakes in a basket of figs. It was these snakes that she used to kill herself. Supposedly, she did not wish to know when death was to come, so she did not remove the snakes, but rather put her hand in the basket, and waited to be bitten. Her two servants died with her.

3) Caesarion- the other main event of the episode. It is recorded that he was killed by Octavian. There is, of course, no reason to believe that he was the son of Pullo, because Titus Pullo as we know him did not exist. Finally, he is shown as a boy in the series. In reality, at this point, he was 17 years old.

4) And speaking of ages, all of the involved were much older than shown- Octavian and Agrippa- 32, Antony- 53, Cleopatra- 39.

5) Of the children of Mark Anthony, only Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Antonia Major are depicted. Missing are his children by Fulvia (who is not mentioned at all in the series): Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Iullus Antonius Creticus; his other daughter with Octavia Minor: Antonia Minor; and his youngest child with Cleopatra, Ptolemy Philadelphus.

6) Atia was long dead by the time of this episode, so of course, she could not have challenged Livia for precedence during the triumph.

7) And, speaking of triumphs, this one is depicted wrong- Octavian wears a white toga instead of crimson; moreover, his face is not painted red as was the custom. What is interesting is that the triumph was shown correctly earlier in the series, the Season 1 episode “Triumph.”

2/10