Quotes for
Augustus Caesar (Character)
from Cleopatra (1963)

Imperium: Augustus (2003) (TV)

Augustus: Did I play my role well, in the comdey of life?
Julia: The gods will tell you father.
Augustus: Applause, please.

Augustus: Julia, did you know?

Augustus: Cleopatra and Antony met Agrippa and I for battle at the coast of Actium. They had only one thought in mind - to kill us.

Livia: I came as soon as I heard. The assassin was not from Rome so we can't trace his employer.
Augustus: Marcus Agrippa is dead.
Livia: Yes, there is a dangerous under carriage in the young noblity.
Augustus: Did you hear what I said, Livia? He was my dear friend, my daughter's husband, the father of my grandchildren and he is dead!
Livia: Yes and your enemies are waiting for the right moment to kill you. This is the moment. Agrippa, your heir apparent, is dead and you too nearly died today... Where does that leave the empire tomorrow?
Augustus: At the stumbling feet of your son, I suppose, exactly where you WANT IT?

Augustus: I lost the man I loved the most today.
Livia: Not just the man, Augustus. You loved him more then any woman too.
Augustus: No. I did love you, Livia.
Livia: Yes? But then?
Augustus: Then? Well, then you made life so complicated.

Augustus: Leave me. I want to be alone.
Livia: You *are* alone.

[of Iullus]
Augustus: I spared his life!
Julia: But not mine.

Livia: You must marry Tiberius.
Julia: I can't stand him.
Livia: I'm not asking you to love him.
Julia: Good, cause I won't!
Augustus: Shut up, the pair of you! If a fight is what you want give me three days notice to place the bets.

Augustus: Octavia? Octavia! I sent the carriage...
Octavia: Yes, you did.
Augustus: But you're walking.
Octavia: Yes, I am.
Augustus: Why?
Octavia: I decided to walk on foot, so all of Rome can see the woman who was betrayed by her child brother.

Livia: You don't believe the rumours, do you?
Augustus: No, Livia. Even you aren't *that* cruel.

Augustus: I am the master of nothing. Why didn't I listen to Julia? Why didn't you say it too, Livia - that I couldn't master the future; think how happy could have been.

Augustus: My grandsons! Gaius and Lucius! Beautiful, aren't they? Devil see them, the pair of them- they take after their mother!
[Julia enters through the crowds]
Julia: They do not! They take after their father and their grandfather. Come along boys, your grandfather is far too busy being "king" to play with his grandsons.
Augustus: Julia, I'm not a king- there are no "kings" in Rome.

Julia: Have I ever been anything more to you then a instrument to fulfill your destiny.
Augustus: I have never loved anyone in my life as much as I love you.
Julia: Then why are you taking my life away from me?
Augustus: Julia, I want you to be happy, but you have to remember that you aren't just my daughter; you are the daughter of the Empire. As Rome's princess, your body and soul belongs to state, and the state is the body of world - if Rome falls, civilization falls!

Augustus: You're not finished dressing...
Julia: Actually I am, it's the current style. Would you have me weave my dresses as I did when I was a little girl?
Augustus: Perhaps, with a little more wool.

Atia: Whose destiny is Octavia's marriage to insure?
Augustus: Rome's
Atia: Rome, I don't know him. Does he have a sister too?

[to Livia]
Augustus: Tiberius is your son, not mine. Julia is my daughter, not yours.

Augustus: You've not changed from your wedding dress?
Julia: I thought that maybe, if I slept in it, when I next awoke it would be gone like a bad dream.

[Describing the massacre of the nobles]
Augustus: [to Julia] It was the price I had to pay. That night men awoke to find their death sentences posted in the Forum. And Agrippa, poor Agrippa was forced to slaughter all of my enemies. It was the price I had to pay for the security of Rome. That night my life was taken from me; it was my destiny, the risk I had to take and I took it. All of this will happen again unless someone who is worthy of the name Caesar... succeeds me But *we* won't let that happen. Tonight, Julia, you and I will give birth to a new Rome, we will assure that it is your sons who rule Rome when I have died, *not* Livia's son. You gave life to your sons once, Julia, now give it to them again! For them and for the good of Rome!

Augustus: Iullus Antonius blames me for his father's death, he thinks I destroyed the republic, he thinks I'm a tyrant!
Julia: You *are* a tyrant!

[Julia comes in and goes to her father's side. He holds his hand out to her]
Augustus: The empire took both our lives, daughter. You were right all along. Forgive me.

Augustus: Agrippa is dead. Death is no longer an "idea" to me, Julia. It is a man, standing in a hall, outside in the streets, in the fields... waiting. He has a face, and he's asking me questions.

Augustus: Livia, when did you stop loving me?
Livia: My love hasn't... Died, exactly. It's just evolved.
Augustus: Into what?
Livia: Duty.

[On sending Tiberius away]
Augustus: I've sent him away, Julia. You don't have to worry about him anymore.
Julia: Am I supposed to thank you, father?
Augustus: No, I'll be content if you don't hate me.

Julia: You used my mother Scribonia too, you had a baby from her and then you threw her away to marry Livia.
Augustus: I loved your mother.
Julia: No, you loved her money!
Augustus: No, I love her because she gave me you.

[to Gaius and Lucius as Julia takes them away]
Augustus: Off you go with your mother boys...
[pause]
Augustus: Oh! And boys... Agrippa will be home tomorrow. So let us plan are tactics so that then together, your father, you and I can make war on your mother's camp!
[Julia turns and laughs playfully]
Julia: And I will defeat you all - I'm a better sword fighter then any of you.
Augustus: Alas! It is true, one should have never taught that woman how to use a sword.

Octavius: [to Agrippa] The Egyptian relgion declares that to die of a snake bite will secure immortality. Did you know that, Agrippa?
Maecenas: Never mind that! History... History will never forget this moment. At last, every legion in Rome listens to the command of a single man. The peace of Rome is assured, to the one, absolute ruler of the Roman Empire.
Agrippa: [In disgust] So, that was you plan all along, Octavius? To wear a crown on your head!
Maecenas: In order to keep the nobles from tearing Rome apart he must be king. He will be declared..."Augustus"!

Octavius: I'd spare your life if I could, Antony.
Mark Antony: I wasn't begging for your mercy!
[short pause and smile]
Mark Antony: I have lived well. I have no hatred or envy for Caesar's son. I wonder if your father had foresaw this end.
Octavius: No... and neither did I.

[to Agrippa, upon reaching Rome]
Octavius: Tomorrow, we go to Munda. Tonight, I am going to show you the greatest city in the world.

Agrippa: I'll not deliver you to Caesar dead!
Octavius: Bad for your career?

Octavius: I shall not greet Caesar from behind a donkey's arse.
Agrippa: You are a donkey's arse!

Atia: Whose glory is Octavia's marriage?
Octavius: For Rome.
Atia: Rome, who is he? I don't know him. Does he have a sister too?

Octavius: Did you see her?
Agrippa: Pretty.

Octavius: She's watching me.
Agrippa: Who?
Octavius: The woman I'll marry.
Agrippa: Where?
Octavius: Somewhere.
Agrippa: Quick! Open your wounds so that your hero's blood is easier to see!

[On Caesar's murder]
Mark Antony: Ten of them came at us with daggers, I don't know why I'm alive.
Octavius: They must have not wished you dead.

Octavius: Livia, you look well. How is Tiberius, that son of yours?
Young Livia: And what is it that lies in *your* wife's belly? Do soothsayers predict a boy or a girl?

Maecenas: We are three kings. Octavius, the leader. Agrippa, the soldier, and Maecenas, the...
Agrippa: Mouth?
Maecenas: - Maecenas, the politician.
[Indicates a rise to Octavius and Agrippa]
Maecenas: A rise. Let us all promise now: that we will let nothing never destroy this friendship!
Maecenas, Agrippa, Octavius: Never!

[about Agrippa's aqueducts]
Agrippa: This spring will quench the thirst of 50,000 or more Romans everyday and water the fields streching for miles around Rome.
[Hands cups of water to Octavius. Maecenas refuses his cup]
Maecenas: No, thanks. I prefer to have something a little more lively.
Octavius: [Toasts] To furture harvests.
Agrippa: Now no one can bribe Rome again by cutting off it's food supply.
Maecenas: It's all very lovely, Agrippa. At least we'll be able to get some lovely fountains out of it.

[Upon Agrippa's entry]
Octavius: The great soldier of the future, Marcus Agrippa has arrived...
[Notices Octavia swooning]
Octavius: ...and he's already slain the heart of my sister!

[On the list of enemies to be murdered]
Mark Antony: Write your enemies names on this list.
Octavius: I have no names.
Mark Antony: You have no balls!

[after giving a speech to the plebs of Rome]
Maecenas: Brilliant speech!
Octavius: You wrote it.
Maecenas: Of course!

Cicero: Caesar and I, as you know had our differences... But surely you must know, I didn't kill him.
Octavius: How could *think* such a thing?

---

"Empire" (2005)

Caesar: And what do you know of real battle, Octavius?
Octavius: I've studied.

Octavius: What animal forest spirit shoots an arrow into a man's arm at 500 yards?
Agrippa: A good-shot spirit?

Octavius: I promise not to speak of politics if you don't speak of gardening.

Octavius: You... I know you, boy... Agrippa, that's your name, isn't it?
Agrippa: Yes, sir, of the second legion...
[Short pause]
Agrippa: Formerly of... My father will break my legs when he finds out I deserted.

---

"Rome: How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic (#1.2)" (2005)

Lucius Vorenus: The republic should remain as it was at the founding of the republic, why should that change?
Gaius Octavian: Because the Roman people are suffering, because slaves have taken all the work, because nobles have taken all the land, and because the streets are filled with the homeless and the starving.

Gaius Octavian: They say that Caesar is a war criminal, and that he intends to march his army on Rome.
Lucius Vorenus: That is sacrilege; no man of honour would follow him.
Titus Pullo: Well I'm no man of honour then... cause I say Caesar should ride in here! With *elephants* - and squash Pompey *and* Cato *and* anyone else that wants it. That's what I say!
Lucius Vorenus: That is because you govern your reason no better then you govern your tongue.

Titus Pullo: Here I come, girls! I'm gonna drink all the wine, smoke all the smoke and fuck every whore in the city.
Lucius Vorenus: Show some dignity. You're under the standard.
Titus Pullo: Well, talk to him!
[Points toward Marc Anthony, who is having sex in uniform with a young girl alongside the road]
Lucius Vorenus: He's not... under the standard.
Titus Pullo: Three hours away from a wife he hasn't seen in eight years. The man's terrified.
Gaius Octavian: Surely a reunion is a happy event.
Lucius Vorenus: Talk of something else!
Titus Pullo: What if she's lost her teeth? What if she's got skinny, or if she's been letting other men get between her legs?
Lucius Vorenus: Silence!

---

"Rome: Son of Hades (#2.2)" (2007)

Mark Antony: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
Atia of the Julii: Wake up! Wake up at once! What is the meaning of this!
Gaius Octavian: What?
Atia of the Julii: The money! You've given the plebs their money!
Gaius Octavian: Is it so late already! I overslept
Atia of the Julii: I don't care! What about the money?
Gaius Octavian: I've promised it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before now, I knew you'd object. I've decided to enter public life, and it seem as a best way to introduce myself to the people
Mark Antony: That would be seen, as a direct challenge to ME!
Gaius Octavian: Yes, but that is not my intention at all. I suggest we make a public display of unity, to call such notions
Mark Antony: A public display of unity? But you...
Gaius Octavian: It makes sense. Our interests are conjoined, while you're a consul, my name, will lend weight to yours, and when your consulship is over and you retire from politics as you have promised, I will step in as leader of the Cesarion party
Mark Antony: I see.
Gaius Octavian: You will need protection from your enemies in the senate and I can provide that.
Mark Antony: [he angrily charges and grabs Octavian by the ears] WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
Gaius Octavian: [fighting back] I'm Caesar's rightful heir!
Atia of the Julii: [holds Antony back] Would you stay calm! He doesn't have the money, so he can't give it away can he? This is all just childish talk.
Gaius Octavian: The money is legally mine! I was able to borrow against it!
Atia of the Julii: Borrow? How much did you borrow?
Gaius Octavian: It's not so much in the great scheme of things.
Mark Antony: [getting angrier] How much?
Gaius Octavian: Three million Sestertii!
[Atia gasps hysterically]
Mark Antony: Oh, Juno's... CUNT!

[after almost killig Octavian]
Mark Antony: You're lucky you're still breathing, boy! Do you here me? You're lucky you're still breathing!
Octavia of the Julii: ANIMAL!
Gaius Octavian: You're unfit to lead Rome!

[to Atia after Antony and Atia threaten him]
Gaius Octavian: Fucking whore!

---

Cleopatra (1999) (TV)

[Final lines]
Octavian: You have won, Cleopatra. You have won!

Marcus Brutus: Octavian, join us! Aid us in destroying this tyrant!
Octavian: No, I could never betray Caesar...
[Short pause]
Octavian: But I won't stop you either.

[On Caesarion]
Marc Antony: [to Octavian] Looks like you have competition.
Octavian: I don't think so. Caesar will never name him his heir.
Marc Antony: You know the future?
Octavian: I know my uncle.

---

"Rome: The Ram Has Touched the Wall (#1.5)" (2005)

Titus Pullo: I've seen you kill. There's plenty of soldier in you.
Gaius Octavian: It's not the killing. It is the waving about of swords I find tedious. I dare say I can kill people readily enough, as long as they're not fighting back.

[Pullo and Octavian are interrogating Evander]
Gaius Octavian: Evander, move forward. Your life is over. The only question is, how do you want to die?
[Evander hesitates, but keeps silent]
Gaius Octavian: We need to hear the truth. If you persist in lying to us, we'll torture you. You'll die only after many hours of agony and horror. You give us honesty now, and you'll go swiftly, painlessly.
Evander Pulchio: Please!
Gaius Octavian: Evander, tell the truth.
[Evander hesitates, but keeps silent]
Gaius Octavian: Torture him.
Titus Pullo: Juno's a cunt, but you're salty! And I was worried about bringing you!
Gaius Octavian: Go on, then.
Titus Pullo: [Hesitates] I've never actually tortured anyone. I don't know how.
Gaius Octavian: You don't know how?
Titus Pullo: They have specialists!
Gaius Octavian: Why not cut of his thumbs?
Titus Pullo: That's good enough. It's a start.

[On Caesar and Servilia's affair]
Gaius Octavian: Calm yourself, mother. You're over-reacting. Who cares who he beds, it is trivial.
Atia of the Julii: You take after your father, simple as milk - and it isn't "trivial", if Caesar were not in bed with that witch he'd be chasing down Pompey - they republic is at stake!
Gaius Octavian: Since when do *you* care about the republic?
Atia of the Julii: I care *deeply* about the republic.
Gaius Octavian: It would not be wise to interfere with this...
Atia of the Julii: Of course! It doesn't matter away; affairs like these tend to ruin themselves anyway.

---

"Rome: Passover (#2.1)" (2007)

Gaius Octavian: You heard what Servilia said, she wants you to run away.
Atia of the Julii: More fool her, she'll have to find me first.
Gaius Octavian: She will find you; you have no talent for hiding.

Gaius Octavian: Mother, I must stay in Rome.
Atia of the Julii: Eh?
Gaius Octavian: I must stay in Rome. I am Caesar's son. I must protect my legal rights.
Mark Antony: There's blood? Quite the little Spartan.

---

"I, Claudius: A Touch of Murder (#1.1)" (1976)

[about the Greek Poet]
Augustus: I've asked him to prepare a piece to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the battle of Actium.
Marcellus: [sarcastically] Oh no.
Augustus: What's the matter? Is it too boring for you?
Marcellus: We had one last year.
Augustus: That was last year and the speaker was very dull. This man they say is wonderful.
Marcellus: [impersonating the speaker from last year] "Seven year this day did Antony's hopes sink in the harbor of Actium"
Augustus: You see how the young mock the battle scars of their elders?

Augustus: Look everyone, it's the cake.
Julia: [wittily] Do we get one each?
Augustus: [laughing] Julia, for heaven's sake.
[all laugh at her comment]
Marcus Agrippa: It's my ship.
Augustus: Yes the one you made your headquarters.
Marcus Agrippa: She was a fine ship.
Marcellus: Ah.
[short pause; pointing to the cherry on the top]
Marcellus: That must be you, Marcus; The candied-cherry in the prow.

---

"Rome: Philippi (#2.6)" (2007)

[Right before Octavian and others go riding out to meet Brutus/Cassius' legions]
Atia of the Julii: Octavian please, for my sake, be good to Anthony.
Gaius Octavian: [annoyed] I am pledged to it, mother.
Atia of the Julii: He's an arrogant shit, I know, but he's a good and honest man

Mark Antony: [just after the battle] Breathe deep boy, the smell of victory!
Gaius Octavian: Smoke, shit and rotting flesh.
Mark Antony: Beautiful, isn't it!

---

"Rome: Egeria (#1.6)" (2005)

Titus Pullo: [taking Octavian to be deflowered] Not to worry, young master. There's nothing to it.
Gaius Octavian: If there's nothing to it then why is there such a fuss made of the thing?

Atia of the Julii: You've put off this moment long enough, my dear.
Gaius Octavian: Mother...
Atia of the Julii: You *will* penetrate someone today, or I will burn your wretched books at the yard.

---

"Rome: A Necessary Fiction (#2.8)" (2007)

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa: [trying to defend Octavia] The fault is mine. It was I who seduced her.
Gaius Octavian Caesar: You have many talents, Agrippa. Seduction is not one of them.

Gaius Octavian Caesar: You should know that when we are married, I shall on occasion beat you. With my hand... A light whip... When I do so you must not think you have offended me. I do it because it gives me sexual pleasure. So remember that and don't be upset.
Livia Drusilla: Yes sir...
Gaius Octavian Caesar: [pause] I think we should get along very well.

---

"Rome: The Spoils (#1.11)" (2005)

Gaius Octavian: Did you? Did you have him killed?
Gaius Julius Caesar: I didn't even know he existed, until he no longer did.

---

"Rome: Stealing from Saturn (#1.4)" (2005)

Gaius Octavian: I dare say I can kill a man, so long as he's not fighting back.

---

"I, Claudius: Old King Log (#1.12)" (1976)

[on his last day before the Senate, Claudius sees the ghosts of his family and predecessors]
Augustus: Well done, Claudius, emperor after all. Who would have thought it, eh?
Livia: You're a fool, boy, you always were. People might say it's not your fault. Well, if it's not your fault, whose is it then?
Antonia: Your nose is still dripping, Claudius, still dripping.
Tiberius: Wasn't worth it, was it? I could have told you that.
Caligula: Uncle Claudius, I wasn't the Messiah after all, would you believe that? Could have knocked me over with a feather then they told me that.

---

"Rome: The Stolen Eagle (#1.1)" (2005)

Gaius Octavian: I am Gaius Octavian of the Julii. Great nephew of Julius Caesar.
Titus Pullo: Gaius who?
Gaius Octavian: I am a Roman citizen of noble birth. And I order you to cut these ropes.
Titus Pullo: Say please.
Gaius Octavian: Please.

---

Cleopatra (1963)

Octavian: Antony is dead? You say that as if it were a everyday occurrence. The soup is hot, the soup is cold. Antony is alive, Antony is dead.

---

"Rome: Death Mask (#2.7)" (2007)

Gaius Octavian: Something tells me you have something to say...
Atia of the Julii: Yes, if there were to be a marriage between your two houses then all would know you're alliance's strength.
[Antony looks at Octavian]
Mark Antony: I don't care if all of Italy burns; I won't marry him!

---

"Rome: An Owl in a Thornbush (#1.3)" (2005)

[as they prepare to commit suicide]
Atia of the Julii: Octavian, my honey, who would you rather killed you?
Gaius Octavian: I'm old enough to take care of myself, mother.
Atia of the Julii: Oh, that's my brave boy.

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