As they prepare their counterattack against Caesar, Pompey's Republicans begin to squabble over both the anticipated spoils and the method of finishing Caesar off. Badly outnumbered, Caesar and Antony make their stand at Pharsalus. As they try to reach Caesar in Greece, the shipwrecked Vorenus and Pullo confront an unexpected dilemma. Back in Rome, Atia again sends Octavia to beg protection from Servilia, who complies readily to encourage her growing friendship with Octavia. Niobe's sister Lyde comes back to see her and comforts her over Vorenus's disappearance.
The price of Caesar's mercy: Cicero nominates Caesar to an unprecedented ten-year dictatorship and Brutus speaks in support of the motion. With martial authority and Niobe at his side, Vorenus campaigns for magistrate under Posca's advice, but is shocked to learn from Posca that Caesar has already fixed the election in Vorenus's favor. Meanwhile, Atia continues her humiliation of Servilia while denying any involvement in her assault.
Lucius Vorenus, the power-hungry 'Son of Hades', controls the Aventine but practices a pointless, beastly reign of terror, coming down hard on gang captains for futilities, and nearly ruins his friendship with Pullo, whose efforts to calm things down are mistaken for disrespect and disobedience, even starts a fight once he learns the truth about Niobe; Pullio leaves Rome disgusted. After Atia convinces Marc Antony the governorship of ghastly Macedonia after his consulate would not only be unpleasant but leave him exposed to his dangerous enemies.
Octavian takes a new bride, Livia, and then introduces her to his family in a startling way... by having her witness the punishment he metes out to Atia and Octavia, for secretly defying the social constraints established through the facade of Octavia's marriage to Mark Antony. The vengeful Gaia carries out her plan to poison Eirene, which produces most dire consequences for Pullo, and no one else is the wiser. Meanwhile, Octavian, Antony, Maecenas, and their associates barely maintain their relationships of congenial contempt and hypocrisy, as everyone tries to figure out who has duped whom with the disappearance of the gold that was Herod's 'gift.'
Seven years have passed since Antony's departure from Rome, and the former commander, dissipated and debauched - held in thrall by the charms and sexual prowess of his new bride, Cleopatra, withholds precious shipments of grain from Rome, where people die in the streets from hunger. Unable to incite a war with Antony and Egypt without committing political suicide, Octavian sends Atia and Octavia to Alexandria to mediate and reason with Antony; a strategy which proves predictably unsuccessful.
Richard Rudgley goes in search of evidence of the barbarians of the dark ages, people whose names have for 1500 years been bywords for mindless brutality. The real truth about the barbarians who marched across Europe during the Dark Ages is more shocking than what you may know. Where did they come from? Who are their descendants? Are any of their techniques and inventions still used? Richard discovers the secrets of forgotten empires, and of mighty clashes throughout Europe. The art, society and cultural legacy of the barbarians are shown to have shaped and moulded the destiny of Europe even more than the Roman Empire. In the first part of the journey through the Dark Ages we will be tracing the legacies of the Huns, Vandals and Goths, to ask whether the 'dark ages' represent a resurfacing of much older tribal lines. Sites in Austria show how sophisticated pre-Roman communities had become with evidence of stunning craftsmanship and sophisticated farming techniques which defy the image of a mindless rabble we have come to accept without challenge.
Back in Rome, Atia again sends Octavia to beg protection from Servilia, who complies readily to encourage her growing friendship with Octavia. Niobe's sister Lyde comes back to see her and comforts her over Vorenus's disappearance.