Rome: Philippi
HBO

Since high school, I've been a big fan of I, Claudius.

It seemed like there was this stuff they were teaching us in civics and history which was probably mostly technically true, but it seemed more like an official story than the real thing.

But then, in Latin class, history seemed much more alive. I took Latin for four years and while I never really got good with the language, I fell in love with the stories the teachers would tell about the Punic Wars and the fall of the Republic. It was like Star Wars only good and, you know, real.

While all my friends in Spanish and French only got to read about how Carlos went down to the supermarket and...

...bought milk
...bought eggs
...bought cheese

I was learning how Caesar stormed through Helvetia into Gaul and
...slaughtered the men
...slaughtered the women
...slaughtered the children
...burned the fields

There were three great events in the life of Gaius Octavian, later Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. Three events surrounded by civil war that brought down the greatest Republic the world had ever known and created the greatest Empire.

The first was the death of Julius Caesar, who had made the young Octavian his heir. The first season of Rome covers this event.

The second was the battle of Philippi, wherein Mark Antony, Lepidus and Octavian defeated Brutus, Cassius and Cicero. They showed this battle last night, and it's utterly heartbreaking.

Brutus was a man of honor, and his loyalty was torn between is country and his friend (Caesar.) Caesar tends to be depicted either as the victim of a conspiracy or as a tyrrant whose murder was justified. This show doesn't give us either of those convenient caricatures. Caesar was a man of ambition, will and intelligence whose rise to power was feared and resented by men who had much reason to fear and to resent. But the principles on which they stood appealed to Brutus' patriotism.

At Philippi, Brutus sees his country crumbling under his feet. His advice to his men is unforgettable: "save your skins." He then marches right up to Octavian's advancing forces, strips off his armor and attacks them so he might die a soldier's death.

Rome has not been renewed for a third season, so I was afraid they wouldn't get to the third event in Octavian's life, the decisive event which makes him emperor: the Battle of Actium.

Actium was naval battle between Octavian and Marcus Agrippa on one side and Mark Antony and Cleopatra on the other. Truthfully, it wasn't much of a battle...Antony and Cleopatra were hemmed in and vulnerable...but it was one of the most important political military victories in Western history.

Six episodes left. I hope they get there.