Caligula (1979)

Peter O'Toole: Tiberius

Photos 

Quotes 

• Tiberius : Do you prefer nymphs to satyrs?

  Caligula : I like both, Lord.

  Tiberius : One needs both, yes, to keep healthy.

• Tiberius : Serve the state, Caligula, though the people in it are wicked beasts.

  Caligula : But they love you, lord.

  Tiberius : Oh, no... they FEAR me... and that is much better.

• Tiberius : It is fate that rules us, Little Boots, not any god.

  Caligula : You are a god.

  Tiberius : No, I'm NOT! Not even when I'm dead.

  Caligula : Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, they are gods.

  Tiberius : So says the senate, and so the people prefer to believe. Such myths are useless.

• Nerva : Tiberius, you were wise once.

  Tiberius : Don't taunt me! I am old.

  Nerva : I've watched you grow into a monster! One by one, I've seen you murder your whole family, your friends, the noblest men in Rome.

  Caligula : That is treason!

  Nerva : No, it's the truth.

  Tiberius : I am and always have been surrounded by enemies. In my own family, in the senate... You are cruel!

  Nerva : Honest old men can sometimes see the future. So, from the evils past, and the evils yet to come, I now choose to escape.

• [seeing Nerva has cut his wrists] 

  Tiberius : Cretins... why did you permit him to do it?

  [to two slaves looking on] 

  Tiberius : Bind his wrists... BIND HIS WRISTS!

  [to Nerva] 

  Tiberius : You must not go, you must not leave me, you are my friend, my only friend.

  Nerva : I've lived too long, Tiberius, I hate my life.

  Tiberius : [to the two slaves]  Leave us! Both of you!

  Nerva : The man to choose the hour of his own death is the closest he will ever come to tricking fate. And fate decrees that when you die, Macro will kill me.

  Tiberius : I'll arrest him, have him executed!

  Nerva : You can't, he controls you. Anyway, even with Macro dead,

  [looking at Caligula] 

  Nerva : how could I go on living with this... reptile?

  Tiberius : [to Caligula]  You will respect my friend always, won't you, reptile?

• Tiberius : Do you think this boy has been drinking?

  Caligula : I think he has, Caesar.

  Tiberius : So do I. Macro? Bring him more wine!

• Tiberius : Oh, yes, I am a true moralist, and stern as any Cato. Fate chose me to govern swine, in my old age, I have become a swineherd.

• Tiberius : If someone else had become emperor, I would've been killed... As you will be!

  [Tiberius quickly walks away as Caligula realizes] 

  Caligula : Will be?

  [Caligula runs after Tiberius] 

  Caligula : Will be, Grandfather?

  Tiberius : Would be, if you were not my heir.

• Tiberius : Rome is a republic and you and I are playing citizens. More confection. That's the best of my stallions. Serve the state, Caligula, although the people in it are wicked beasts.

• Tiberius : Another brother is enough envy. Brother kills a brother who's killed his father who's killed his son.

• Tiberius : Do you think this boy has drunk enough wine?

  Caligula : I think he's drunk enough, Lord.

  Tiberius : So do I!

  [stabs the drunk man with a sword] 

  Tiberius : Now he is happy.

• [Caligula is having a nightmare about Tiberius] 

  Tiberius : A brother kills a brother who's killed his father who's killed his son. Fate. And then someone will kill Caligula!

• Tiberius : When Rome was just a city and we were just citizens, we're known to one another. And we were frugal, good, disciplined and dignified. The Romans I rule are not like we were. They lust for power and pleasure. Money the wives of other men.

• Tiberius : Every senator believes himself to be a potential Caesar, therefore every senator is guilty of treason. In thought, if not indeed.The Senate is the natural enemy of any Caesar, Little Boots.They offer to prove any law I made before I made it. I said: 'What if I go mad? What then?' No answer. They were born to be slaves.

• Tiberius : I know everything that is said and done. And thought. The setting sun and the rising moon. Gemellus, lovely boy. And too young to betray me. Perhaps not too young.

• Tiberius : I am mercy. A viper in Rome's bosom.

• Tiberius : They fear me. And that is much better.

• Tiberius : My fishes!