Commodus: Rise, rise. [Maximus stands up, clenching an arrow head in his right hand] Commodus: Your fame is well deserved, Spaniard. I don't think there's ever been a gladiator to match you. As for this young man, he insists you are Hector reborn. Or was it Hercules? Why doesn't the hero reveal himself and tell us all your real name? You do have a name. Maximus: My name is Gladiator. [turns away from Commodus] Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name. Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus] My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. [Commodus trembles in disbelief] Quintus: Arms! [Praetorians point their spears at the gladiators while the Collosseum crowd chants for them to live. Commodus shakes his head and motions the crowd for silence. He then raises his fist and reluctantly gives the thumbs-up signal]
(122 votes)
3
"At my signal, unleash hell."--Maximus (Russell Crowe) to his troops
(93 votes)
4
Maximus: Strength and honor.
(87 votes)
5
Proximo: Those giraffes you sold me, they won't mate. They just walk around, eating, and not mating. You sold me... queer giraffes. I want my money back.
(67 votes)
6
Maximus: I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back." Commodus: I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death? Maximus: You must know. He was your father. Commodus: You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? Smile for me now, brother. [stabs him]
(30 votes)
7
[addressing his troops] Maximus: Patres! [Cavalry addresses Maximus] Maximus: Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead! [Cavalry laughs] Maximus: Brothers, what we do in life... echoes in eternity.
(24 votes)
8
"Are you not entertained?!"--Maximus to the arena crowd
(16 votes)
9
[to his dead friend] Juba: I will see you again... but not yet. Not yet!
(15 votes)
10
[Maximus looks at images of his wife and son] Juba: Can they hear you? Maximus: Who? Juba: Your family. In the afterlife. Maximus: Oh yes. Juba: What do you say to them? Maximus: To my son - I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife... that is not your business.
(20 votes)
11
Proximo: Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how but, what we can decide is how we meet that end, in order that we are remembered, as men.
(12 votes)
12
Maximus: Do you find it difficult to do your duty? Cicero: Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.
(12 votes)
13
Proximo: [addressing his new recruits] I am Proximo! I shall be closer to you for the next few days, which will be the last of your miserable lives, than that bitch of a mother who first brought you screaming into this world! I did not pay good money for your company. I paid it so that I might profit from your death. And just as your mother was there at your beginning, I shall be there at your end. And when you die - and die you shall - your transition will be to the sound of... [claps his hands] Proximo: Gladiators... I salute you.
(11 votes)
14
Commodus: I think I understand my own people. Gracchus: Then perhaps Caeser will be so good as to teach us, out of his own extensive experience? Commodus: I call it love, Gracchus. The people are my children, I am their father. I shall hold them to my bosom and embrace them tightly... Gracchus: Have you ever embraced someone dying of plague, sire? Commodus: No, but if you interrupt me again, I assure you that you will.
(9 votes)
15
Marcus Aurelius: Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a good father. Lucilla: This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?
(9 votes)
16
Maximus: Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing.
(8 votes)
17
Proximo: Some of you are thinking that you won't fight. Others, that you can't fight. They all say that.
(8 votes)
18
Commodus: The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena? Maximus: You would fight me? Commodus: Why not? Do you think I am afraid? Maximus: I think you've been afraid all your life.
(7 votes)
19
Maximus: Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the Gods' desire for my future. Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air. Ancestors, I honor you and will try to live with the dignity that you have taught me.
(7 votes)
20
Gracchus: But the Senate IS the people, sire. Chosen from AMONG the people. To speak FOR the people. Commodus: I doubt if any of the people eat so well as you, Gracchus. Or have such splendid mistresses, Gaius.
(7 votes)
21
Maximus: At my signal, unleash hell.
(6 votes)
22
Commodus: It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.
(6 votes)
23
Lucilla: Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome.
(5 votes)
24
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered. Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?
(5 votes)
25
Maximus: Are you in danger of becoming a good man, Proximo? Proximo: Ha!
(5 votes)
26
Commodus: Have I missed it? Have I missed the battle? Marcus Aurelius: You have missed the war. Commodus: Father, congratulations. I shall sacrifice a hundred bulls to honor your triumph. Marcus Aurelius: Save the bulls. Honor Maximus. He won the battle.
(5 votes)
27
[His only line] Tigris: We who are about to die, salute you!
(6 votes)
28
Maximus: My name is Gladiator
(8 votes)
29
Commodus: You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues. Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. As I read the list I knew I had none of them. But i have other virtues, father. Ambition, that can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness. Courage. Perhaps not on the battlefield but there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family, to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then, it was as if you didn't want me for your son. Marcus Aurelius: Oh Commodus, you go too far. Commodus: I searched the faces of the gods for ways to please you, to make you proud. One kind word, one full hug while you pressed me to your chest and held me tight, would've been like the sun on my heart for a thousand years. What is in me that you hate so much? Marcus Aurelius: Shh, Commodus. Commodus: All I've ever wanted was to live up to you. Ceasar. Father.
(8 votes)
30
Lucilla: I want to help you. Maximus: Yes, you can help me... Forget you ever knew me, and never come back here again.
(3 votes)
31
Maximus: [after swiftly dispatching another gladiator] Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here? Crowd: Spaniard, Spaniard, Spaniard...
(3 votes)
32
Lucius Verus: Are you the one they call the Spaniard? Maximus: Yes. Lucius Verus: They said you were a giant. They said you could crush a man's skull with one hand. Maximus: A man's? No. A boy's?
(3 votes)
33
Maximus: I may die here in this cell or in the arena tomorrow. What possible difference can I make?
(3 votes)
34
Gracchus: He will bring them death, and they will love him for it.
(3 votes)
35
Commodus: Your Emperor asks for your loyalty, Maximus. Take my hand, I only offer it once.
(2 votes)
36
[Watching Lucius sleep] Commodus: He sleeps so well because he is loved.
(2 votes)
37
Lucius Verus: I like you Spaniard, and I shall cheer for you. Maximus: They let you watch the games? Lucius Verus: My uncle says it makes me strong. Maximus: And what does your father say? Lucius Verus: My father's dead. Servant: Master Lucius, it is time. Lucius Verus: I have to go. Maximus: Thy name is Lucius? Lucius Verus: Lucius Verus, after my father.
(2 votes)
38
Marcus Aurelius: There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.
(2 votes)
39
Commodus: And now they love Maximus for his mercy. So I can't just kill him, or it makes me even more unmerciful! The whole thing's like some crazed nightmare. Falco: He is defying you. His every victory is an act of defiance. The mob sees this, and so does the senate. Every day he lives, they grow bolder. Kill him. Commodus: No. I will not make a martyr of him. [Commodus walks around] Falco: I have been told of a certain sea snake which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey. It will lie at the bottom of the ocean as if wounded. Then its enemies will approach, and yet it will lie quite still. And then its enemies will take little bites of it, and yet it remains still. Commodus: So, we will lie still, and let our enemies come to us and nibble. Have every senator followed.
(2 votes)
40
Proximo: Listen to me. Learn from me. I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.
(2 votes)
41
Proximo: [holding up a sword] Thrust this into another man's flesh, and they will applaud and love you for that. You may even begin to love them.
(2 votes)
42
Proximo: Congratulations, you have very persuasive friends. Lucilla: My brother's had Gracchus arrested. We daren't wait any longer. We must leave tonight. Proximo will be here t midnight and take you to the gate. Your servant, Cicero will be waiting there with horses. [Maximus nods] Maximus: You have done all this? Lucilla: Yes. Maximus: [sighs] You risk too much. Lucilla: I have much to pay for. [Maximus shakes his head] Maximus: You have nothing to pay for. You love your son, you are strong for him. Lucilla: I am tired of being strong.(sighs) My brother hates all the world and you most of all. Maximus: Because your father chose me. Lucilla: No because my father loved you... and because I loved you. Maximus: A long time ago. [kisses her hand] Lucilla: [smiles] Was I very different then? Maximus: (shakes his head, touches her face with his finger) You laughed more. Lucilla: I have felt alone all my life, except with you. I must go. Maximus: Yes. [kisses Lucilla one last time]
(1 vote)
43
Gracchus: I don't pretend to be a man of the people. But I do try to be a man for the people.
44
Gracchus: He enters Rome like a conquering hero. But what has he conquered? Falco: Give him time, Gracchus. He's young, he may do very well. Gracchus: For Rome, Falco? Or for you?
45
Maximus: I am required to kill, so I kill. That is enough. Proximo: That's enough for the provinces, but not enough for Rome.
46
Marcus Aurelius: When was the last time you were home? Maximus: Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning.
47
Gracchus: Fear and wonder, a powerful combination. Gaius: You really think people are going to be seduced by that? Gracchus: I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it's the sand of the coliseum. He'll bring them death - and they will love him for it.
48
Maximus: You risk too much. Lucilla: I have much to pay for. Maximus: You have nothing to pay for.
49
Lucilla: My brother hates all the world and you most of all. Maximus: Because your father chose me. Lucilla: No. Because my father loved you. And because I loved you.
50
[Looking at some slaves] Proximo: Can any of them fight? I've got a match coming up. Slave Trader: Some are good for fighting, others for dying. You need both, I think.
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