-
Proximo: Congratulations, you have very persuasive friends.
Lucilla: My brother's had Gracchus arrested. We daren't wait any longer. We must leave tonight. Proximo will be here t midnight and take you to the gate. Your servant, Cicero will be waiting there with horses.
[Maximus nods]
Maximus: You have done all this?
Lucilla: Yes.
Maximus: [sighs] You risk too much.
Lucilla: I have much to pay for.
[Maximus shakes his head]
Maximus: You have nothing to pay for. You love your son, you are strong for him.
Lucilla: I am tired of being strong.(sighs) My brother hates all the world and you most of all.
Maximus: Because your father chose me.
Lucilla: No because my father loved you... and because I loved you.
Maximus: A long time ago.
[kisses her hand]
Lucilla: [smiles] Was I very different then?
Maximus: (shakes his head, touches her face with his finger) You laughed more.
Lucilla: I have felt alone all my life, except with you. I must go.
Maximus: Yes.
[kisses Lucilla one last time]
-
Marcus Aurelius: Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a good father.
Lucilla: This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?
Malcolm Ellul
Extended Reading
