:24:01
Maximus...
:24:03
Let us whisper now...
:24:06
together, you and I.
:24:08
You have a son.
:24:11
Tell me about your home.
:24:19
My house is in the hills
above Trujillo. A very simple place.
:24:25
Pink stones
that warm in the sun.
:24:28
A kitchen garden that
smells of herbs in the day...
:24:32
jasmine in the evening.
:24:36
Through the gate
is a giant poplar.
:24:39
Figs, apples, pears.
:24:41
The soil, Marcus... black.
Black like my wife's hair.
:24:46
Grapes on the south slopes,
olives on the north.
:24:48
Wild ponies play near my house.
They tease my son. He wants to be one.
:24:52
- Remember the last time you were home?
- Two years, 264 days and this morning.
:24:58
I envy you, Maximus.
:25:01
It's a good home.
Worth fighting for.
:25:07
There is one more duty...
:25:10
that I ask of you
before you go home.
:25:15
What would you
have me do, Caesar?
:25:17
I want you to become
the protector of Rome after I die.
:25:21
I will empower you
to one end alone...
:25:24
to give power back
to the people of Rome...
:25:28
and end the corruption
that has crippled it.
:25:37
Will you accept this great honor
that I have offered you?
:25:42
With all my heart, no.
:25:46
Maximus...
:25:49
that is why it must be you.
:25:52
But surely a prefect,
a senator...
:25:54
somebody who knows the city,
who understands her politics.
:25:56
But you have not been
corrupted by her politics.