The Senator says it will take 2 days to get things ready and to buy his freedom. Hes a Senator, one of the most powerful men in Rome, why couldn't he just take Maximus right then, and put a cloak over him and take him out of the city at that very moment?
Ive never understood this.
If he did and was cought, he would be accused of treason. So he couldn't take any chances. He did it by the book. Hope this answers your question.
sharethanks for your response, but it seems like the best way to avoid getting caught was to do it right now. If Gracchus, a powerful Senator, rode with him out of the city, who is going to stop him? Its seems to me it was important to do this immediately, Commodus hated Maximus, why wait 2 days? Maximus could be dead by then.
Anyway that's the one point that always bothered me about this movie - but I still feel that its a true masterpiece, one of the best movies ever.
I agree with the OP. Maximus should've got out early, they just wasted too much time.
shareThere were guards around the Entertainer's camp. He couldn't just take him away, that would mean treason and he'd be stripped of his rank and arrested for freeing a prisoner.
Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas.
Yes but after Maximus would've got his army together and defeated Commodus, he would've freed him anyway, so it wouldn't matter. Maximus being in charge would've re-instated him.
shareAw...its nice to think that way. I would love to see the alternate ending where Maximus is privileged to command his army stationed in Germania.
Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas.
Well he would've, but he looked in his wallet and there was only...shadows and dust!
Plus, it was Saturday night, and the bank is closed Sunday. So 2 days.
Maximus needing no freeing; as a Roman citizen his having been abducted and forced into slavery was illegal on the face of it. Once Maximus made himself known he could've simply walked away from the gladiators, no one would've had the right to stop him. You know, you couldn't just enslave people because you ran into them lying along the road.
Romans were very legal minded people and had thriving lawyers. Even emperors were leery of acting illegally; note how Augustus made sure his power as the first emperor was made law by the Senate and the Assembly.
Agreed. The better question is (let's pretend Maximus can't be freed) why Proximo couldn't simply leave Rome with Maximus. It's his slave after all and Proximo is a free man. I doubt he signed a contract to specifically bring Maximus to games. Commodus at the time didn't expect him going to meet his legions and he can't kill him in broad daylight cause "the mob" wouldn't understand.
shareIt would be a much shorter movie, for one thing
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