The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

Preston Foster: Marcus

Photos 

Quotes 

• Marcus : Money is all that matters. Well, I can get money! It's easy to get money! All you have to do... is kill.

• Pontius Pilate : My boy, I've heard such ideas, a long time ago. They are dreams - beautiful dreams, I know, but dreams nonetheless.

  Flavius, as a Man : Was it a dream that once I knew a man who said "Love thy neighbor as thyself"?

  Marcus : There never was such a man, I tell you.

  Pontius Pilate : Don't lie to him, Marcus. There was such a man.

  Flavius, as a Man : What happened to him?

  Pontius Pilate : I crucified Him.

• Pontius Pilate : [carelessly, after Marcus has thanked him for a payment]  What have I done/

  [Suddenly stricken with guilt] 

  Pontius Pilate : What have I done?

  Marcus : Excellency!

  Pontius Pilate : Forgive me. I am not myself. Just now I have been forced to condemn a Man. Poor Man, I found no fault in Him. But I must try to keep the peace.

• Marcus : He still believes in things.

  Pontius Pilate : And you and I are wiser? Perhaps... What is truth?

• Cleon, the Slave Dealer : [pandering]  If you're a rich man, a few coppers wouldn't interest you.

  [giving Marcus a coin] 

  Cleon, the Slave Dealer : This is for your work...

  [he gives him a second copper] 

  Cleon, the Slave Dealer : ... and this is for saving my life.

  Marcus : [laughing with contempt]  Just about what the job is worth!

• Gaius Tanno : You remind me of an acrobat in the arena walking on a rope stretched high in the air.

  Marcus : Walking on a rope?

  Gaius Tanno : Yes, a rope no wider than my thumb.

  Marcus : [laughing]  I'm not walking on a rope.

  Gaius Tanno : Oh, yes, you are. Every poor man is. You think you're balanced nicely, but only money can make you safe. Some little unexpected thing, and you're down... smashed!

• Cleon, the Slave Dealer : I don't think you should look down on me, my friend. Aren't we in the same business? We both furnish amusement for the people.

  Marcus : I risk my life with the man I'm fighting. You buy and sell wretches to be slaughtered as a spectacle. I'm not proud of myself, but, by Jupiter, compared to you I'm a holy man.

  Cleon, the Slave Dealer : You will never be an old one. It isn't bravery that survives; it's brains.

  Marcus : Yes, it is well known that the rat lives longer than the lion, but who wants to be a rat? I wouldn't do your dirty work - not to save my life!

• Marcus : If you don't want my money, what will you give to the poor?

  Flavius, as a Man : Myself.

• Prefect : What do you keep behind these locks and bolts?

  Marcus : My fortune, excellency. It's a safe place.

  Burbix : Would the prefect like to inspect the barbarians - the Britons who are to fight tomorrow?

  Marcus : Yes.

  [to the prefect] 

  Marcus : Captives from Agricola's campaign.

  Prefect : I wonder why we Romans trouble ourselves with that wretched island? After it's conquered, what good is it?

  Marcus : Don't you believe we can ever civilize the Britons?

  Prefect : Those people? They'll always be barbarians. What will they ever do?