- Lavish imperial games at the Colosseum are highlighted by the emperor's bloody victories, but his paranoid abuses of power lead to a final betrayal.
- On the first day of the games, Commodus rewards Narcissus and grants him his freedom, thereby eliminating his biggest threat from the games. With this Commodus earns the adulation of the crowd, since Narcissus was a crowd favorite. 50,000 Romans cheer the games in the Coliseum. 100's exotic animals are hunted live. Prisoners and slaves are executed. Gifts and prizes for those in attendance. Commodus portrays himself as Hercules to project an image of invincibility. Commodus is pinned down in his first fight, but using his wits, he throws sand in the eyes of his opponent and then spears him to death. For the first time an Emperor claims victory as a gladiator at the Coliseum. Commodus wins the validation he always wanted.
With his new found confidence, Commodus calls for the meeting of the senate and announces that the Senate will be disbanded by the new year. He calls the Senate outdated and a bunch bickering and backstabbing old men, who should have been removed when Caeser took the throne as the Emperor. Commodus's new vision for Rome was to turn it into a dictatorship. Commodus commissions massive golden statues and renames the months of the year after himself. He renames Rome to Colonia Commodiana.
Commodus wins every one of his fights at the Plebian games and his megalomania grows. What the crowds didn't know that in the arena, his opponents were given dulled blades by Eclectus and had no chance of hurting him. Narcissus knew what Commodus was doing and was not happy. Narcissus confronts Commodus and ensures that he understands that Narcissus doesn't support what Commodus has done to kill his brothers (in trade as gladiators). Commodus argues that he granted the gladiators the honor to die by his sword in the service of the Empire. Commodus knows if his secret is let out, he will lose the trust of the people, so he draws up a list of names of people who knew of the truth.. These people were to be banished or executed. The Proscription List.
Eclectus and Marcia reach out to Cassius and reveal Commodus's secret. Cassius gives poison to Marcia and tells her to mix it in Commodus's wine. Marcia was afraid for her own life, and agreed to Cassius's plan. Poison is untraceable and hence an insidious form of assassination in the Roman world. Marcia serves the poisoned wine to Commodus, who drinks it. But he vomits the wine out and is not killed. Marcia finds the Proscription list and finds her own name on it. She escapes with the list. Eclectus takes the list to Cassius. Cassius finds that his own name is also on the list.
Cassius engages Narcissus and orders him to assassinate Commodus. Narcissus meets Commodus in his chamber and challenges him to a fair fight, hand to hand combat. Narcissus beats Commodus and then stabs him to death. Commodus's death plunges Rome into turmoil. For the next yr, Rome is consumed by Civil war and all those who plotted against the Emperor are punished. Narcissus is executed. Marcia is sentenced to death. Cassius survives and writes an account of this time of the ROman Empire. Commodus brought peace to Rome in 13 yrs of his rule, but was remembered as the man who brought unprecedented chaos and beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire.
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