Gladiator Scene 10 Summary

  • Commodus's walking in a tent, looking at statutes. Marcus Aurelius enters and asks him if he's ready to do his duty for Rome.
  • Commodus probably thinks this is his big moment, but we know what's about to go down.
  • Marcus Aurelius tells Commodus he won't be made emperor, and that Maximus will assume his powers until the Senate is ready to rule Rome.
  • Rome will be a republic again.
  • Commodus starts whining to Marcus Aurelius about some letter his father once sent him in which were enumerated a bunch of virtues.
  • Commodus says he didn't have any of those virtues, but that he has other virtues. He's upset that he's never been recognized for the virtues that he does have.
  • He feels as though his father has never wanted him for a son, especially given how close he is with Maximus.
  • Commodus continues to appeal to his father's pity, and he begins to cry the more he speaks.
  • Marcus Aurelius and Commodus embrace.
  • Commodus then looks at his father, and says he would have butchered the whole world if only he would have loved him.
  • He then hugs him again, really, really hard.
  • Wait a second; it looks like Marcus Aurelius can't breathe. Is Commodus smothering his own father?
  • Yep, he is killing his dad. We hear the wheezes of a dying man as the camera focuses on a statue and the scene ends.