Those of you who have seen the movie Gladiator (2000), directed by Ridley Scott, you will remember how bad the emperor Commodus was (Joaquin Phoenix) and the dirty tricks he did to our hero Máximo Décimo Meridio (Russell Crowe). There is a moment in the film that seems brutal to me:when Commodus descends into the arena to meet the masked gladiator, Russell Crowe takes off his helmet and says:
My name is Maximus Tenth Meridio, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Phoenix Legions, loyal servant of the true emperor Marcus Aurelius [father of Commodus], father of a murdered son, husband of a murdered woman, and I will achieve my revenge in this life or the next.
Russell Crowe in "Gladiator"
As in the film, although with a different script, Commodus had to face a conspiracy to kill him hatched by his own sister Lucilla . They were unsuccessful and the emperor took his revenge on him. One of the second order conspirators managed to save his life but not his possessions, all his slaves went on to serve the Emperor. Among this group of slaves was Marcia , a very beautiful young woman who left the service to go directly to Commodus's bed. Marcia had been an abandoned girl picked up on the street by the priest Jacinto . It is not known how or why, but the fact is that she began to serve as a slave in the house of the conspirator. A small detail that is very important for this story… Marcia was a Christian . Since Marcia came into the life of the Emperor, she tried to favor the Christians as much as she could, who at that time, and depending on the will of each of the emperors, were persecuted to a greater or lesser extent. As she could and secretly, she managed to meet with Pope Victor I and asked him to compile a list of Christians from Rome sentenced to forced labor in the mines of Sardinia. She with the list in hand she left and, after a night of pleasure, she got everyone's forgiveness. That day, Commodus showed that he had a heart... or that it was impossible to deny Marcia anything.
Image:The Odyssey of cinema