Augustus: The First Emperor (2003 TV Movie)

Peter O'Toole: Augustus Caesar

Quotes 

• Augustus : Did I play my role well, in the comdey of life?

  Julia : The gods will tell you father.

  Augustus : Applause, please.

• Augustus : I lost the man I loved the most today.

  Livia : Not just the man, Augustus. You loved him more then any woman too.

  Augustus : No. I did love you, Livia.

  Livia : Yes? But then?

  Augustus : Then? Well, then you made life so complicated.

• Augustus : Julia, did you know?

• Livia : I came as soon as I heard. The assassin was not from Rome so we can't trace his employer.

  Augustus : Marcus Agrippa is dead.

  Livia : Yes, there is a dangerous under carriage in the young noblity.

  Augustus : Did you hear what I said, Livia? He was my dear friend, my daughter's husband, the father of my grandchildren and he is dead!

  Livia : Yes and your enemies are waiting for the right moment to kill you. This is the moment. Agrippa, your heir apparent, is dead and you too nearly died today... Where does that leave the empire tomorrow?

  Augustus : At the stumbling feet of your son, I suppose, exactly where you WANT IT?

• Augustus : Leave me. I want to be alone.

  Livia : You *are* alone.

• Livia : You must marry Tiberius.

  Julia : I can't stand him.

  Livia : I'm not asking you to love him.

  Julia : Good, cause I won't!

  Augustus : Shut up, the pair of you! If a fight is what you want give me three days notice to place the bets.

• Augustus : Cleopatra and Antony met Agrippa and I for battle at the coast of Actium. They had only one thought in mind - to kill us.

• [of Iullus] 

  Augustus : I spared his life!

  Julia : But not mine.

• Augustus : Octavia? Octavia! I sent the carriage...

  Octavia : Yes, you did.

  Augustus : But you're walking.

  Octavia : Yes, I am.

  Augustus : Why?

  Octavia : I decided to walk on foot, so all of Rome can see the woman who was betrayed by her child brother.

• Livia : You don't believe the rumours, do you?

  Augustus : No, Livia. Even you aren't *that* cruel.

• Augustus : I am the master of nothing. Why didn't I listen to Julia? Why didn't you say it too, Livia - that I couldn't master the future; think how happy could have been.

• Augustus : My grandsons! Gaius and Lucius! Beautiful, aren't they? Devil see them, the pair of them- they take after their mother!

  [Julia enters through the crowds] 

  Julia : They do not! They take after their father and their grandfather. Come along boys, your grandfather is far too busy being "king" to play with his grandsons.

  Augustus : Julia, I'm not a king- there are no "kings" in Rome.

• Julia : Have I ever been anything more to you then a instrument to fulfill your destiny.

  Augustus : I have never loved anyone in my life as much as I love you.

  Julia : Then why are you taking my life away from me?

  Augustus : Julia, I want you to be happy, but you have to remember that you aren't just my daughter; you are the daughter of the Empire. As Rome's princess, your body and soul belongs to state, and the state is the body of world - if Rome falls, civilization falls!

• Augustus : You're not finished dressing...

  Julia : Actually I am, it's the current style. Would you have me weave my dresses as I did when I was a little girl?

  Augustus : Perhaps, with a little more wool.

• Atia : Whose destiny is Octavia's marriage to insure?

  Augustus : Rome's

  Atia : Rome, I don't know him. Does he have a sister too?

• [to Livia] 

  Augustus : Tiberius is your son, not mine. Julia is my daughter, not yours.

• Augustus : You've not changed from your wedding dress?

  Julia : I thought that maybe, if I slept in it, when I next awoke it would be gone like a bad dream.

• [Describing the massacre of the nobles] 

  Augustus : [to Julia]  It was the price I had to pay. That night men awoke to find their death sentences posted in the Forum. And Agrippa, poor Agrippa was forced to slaughter all of my enemies. It was the price I had to pay for the security of Rome. That night my life was taken from me; it was my destiny, the risk I had to take and I took it. All of this will happen again unless someone who is worthy of the name Caesar... succeeds me But *we* won't let that happen. Tonight, Julia, you and I will give birth to a new Rome, we will assure that it is your sons who rule Rome when I have died, *not* Livia's son. You gave life to your sons once, Julia, now give it to them again! For them and for the good of Rome!

• Augustus : Iullus Antonius blames me for his father's death, he thinks I destroyed the republic, he thinks I'm a tyrant!

  Julia : You *are* a tyrant!

• [Julia comes in and goes to her father's side. He holds his hand out to her] 

  Augustus : The empire took both our lives, daughter. You were right all along. Forgive me.

• Augustus : Agrippa is dead. Death is no longer an "idea" to me, Julia. It is a man, standing in a hall, outside in the streets, in the fields... waiting. He has a face, and he's asking me questions.

• Augustus : Livia, when did you stop loving me?

  Livia : My love hasn't... Died, exactly. It's just evolved.

  Augustus : Into what?

  Livia : Duty.

• [On sending Tiberius away] 

  Augustus : I've sent him away, Julia. You don't have to worry about him anymore.

  Julia : Am I supposed to thank you, father?

  Augustus : No, I'll be content if you don't hate me.

• Julia : You used my mother Scribonia too, you had a baby from her and then you threw her away to marry Livia.

  Augustus : I loved your mother.

  Julia : No, you loved her money!

  Augustus : No, I love her because she gave me you.

• [to Gaius and Lucius as Julia takes them away] 

  Augustus : Off you go with your mother boys...

  [pause] 

  Augustus : Oh! And boys... Agrippa will be home tomorrow. So let us plan are tactics so that then together, your father, you and I can make war on your mother's camp!

  [Julia turns and laughs playfully] 

  Julia : And I will defeat you all - I'm a better sword fighter then any of you.

  Augustus : Alas! It is true, one should have never taught that woman how to use a sword.