i'm going to the cool room.
bad omens, hector. bad omens. get me something to eat. just a mouse or two.
he's a true friend, probably the only one i have left. hector obligingly trots a step or two closer to lucinnius to aid their conversation.
he was honest about it. he said so, plain and simple. no.
and the ships have gone.  did i tell you that?
cyprian knows already. he'll want his money back too.  we can see the concentration on hector's face as he concocts appropriate responses. he has a tough occupation, being the alter ego to an ambitious loser in one of the most competitive and dangerous societies ever to exist. and he has to carry the stool and the towel as well.
when we get home i want you to get some chickens.  and fetch hermas, the diviner.
are my ships from sicily still afloat?
what do you mean?
do it again.  i want you to do it again.  is it the gods' will.  * that cyprian.  be well disposed * towards me.  in the future? *
cyprian loaned me half a million to fit out these ships.  i'm * finished. just when things were going well.  i had plans for you too, hector.  in four or five years i was going to make you a free man.  and then in ten years * you'd be a citizen.  you.  you * could've found your family.  brought them here.  everything.
it does, doesn't it! lucinnius is silent for a while as hector continues to * rub his shoulders.
i shouldn't give up. i can't.  i'll visit cyprian, first thing tomorrow.  before the others can get to him.  he's got to see reason.  i can pay him back.  sometime. it's the only chance we have, hector. should i do it?
you're right. i must.
thalia, i think i need one of your massages. hector, you can * finish the lamps. hector does as he is told. he takes the torch from thalia and discreetly leaves the room, hearing lucinnius as he closes the door.
lower, thalia.
i can't sleep. get me a chicken. i want to make another sacrifice. we'll do it ourselves.
relieved anyway.  relieved that it's over at last. lucinnius strides out of the courtyard with hector following after him.
i have to kill myself by tomorrow morning. he has all my letters to titinius, none of them got through. he says it's like treason.  and he says i should want to die for owing him half a million anyway.
then he will.  and that wouldn't be pleasant.  he would drag me to rome.  those letters.  lucinnius shivers to think of them.
i'm done for, hector.  but it's strange.  i feel kind of good about it.  the struggle is over .  we've seen it through together, eh?
let's get home. we have a lot to do. lucinnius quickens his pace.
tonight.  peace at last.  lucinnius is obviously in a state of shock.
we'll do it with a knife, hector. when everyone has gone to bed. the two of us, to the end.
we'll help each other, hector. we must. we've been through this whole mess together.  we must die together.
you don't understand do you? i'm asking you to die with me.  you're my closest, my dearest slave.  what would they say about me if you refused to die with me? this is honor.  we're choosing * death.  we're not going to submit to the humiliations that cyprian can heap on us, are we?
hector.  at cyprian's this morning .  i had to sign certain papers .  tell a bit of a story.  *
a confession. that we were plotting against cyprian and the provincial senate.  we were short of names.  most of the people i know were in the room.  people i thought were my friends.  so i mentioned you.  i had to.  hector is stunned with shock.
yes. so you see, i don't want you to die with me just because of my honor.  it's more complicated.  i'm sorry, hector. i would be honored.  if you would die with me.  i mean it.  hector manages to speak.
of course.
if he eats the grain it means yes.
no, it's saying yes, we should die.
no, it's saying yes, we should die. the bird is certainly enjoying his food.
thank you, gentlemen.  but i feel that i will be capable of taking care of my affairs tonight without your help.  thank cyprian for his kind thought.  the heavies metaphorically keep their foot in the door.
thank you. good night.
thank you.
eight hundred sesterces.  cash .  that's all that's left.  what a failure.  my father left me three farms and forty thousand.
nothing else to be done. don't you want some wine?
what is it?
hector, by this proclamation, i make you a freed man.  i don't know the exact words.  i've never done it before.  but you're free, hector. *
very well.
they'll find it in the morning. it's a nice thought, hector.  you were right to ask.
well.  freed man, let's do it. *
nothing.  i mean, not to me.  i have to do it first.  you understand that.  and then you.  if i don't succeed.  then you must help me.
no point in messing up the room. let's go downstairs.
oh, that hurts, that stings! lucinnius sits back on the step of the washing pool, holding his stomach. hector sits down beside him. they both look down at the blade, still in lucinnius' body.
this is hopeless.
help me, hector.
thank you, thank you. the movement has increased the spread of blood over lucinnius' clothing. he raises his head.
you do it now, hector.  hurry.
do it hector.  do it.  you promised.  it looks as if hector is playing for time.
take it.  do it.
do it, hector.  do it.  do it.  hector has the knife in his hand, but still he waits, looking at lucinnius, willing the last dregs of life from him.
do it.  do it.  do it.  the whispers fade to a croak. lucinnius lies still. hector has won this final battle of wills. he stands up, suddenly repulsed by what has happened. but quickly he gathers his wits. he makes his decision. he throws the knife down. it clatters along the hard shiny floor. hector has run out of the room before it has come to rest against the wall.