The Godfather Part II

塩野七生『ローマ人の物語』とかを読んでいる人だったらわかるかもしれない・・・。ご協力ください。


東劇で「The Godfather Part II」を鑑賞。そのなかの一節がやはり気になります。場面は、聴聞会で宣誓証言を翻して“I never knew any godgather”と Corleone family をかばった Frankie Pentangeli のもとを Tom Hagen が訪ねて二人で会話するところ。


Tom: Everything will be OK, so don't worry.
Frank: Did my brother go back?
Tom: Yeah, don't worry.
Frank: He's ten times tougher than me. He's old-fashioned.
Tom: He didn't wanna go out for dinner. He just wanted to go straight home.
Frank: That's my brother. And there's nothing that could get him away from that two-mule town. He could've been big here. He could've had his own family...Tom, what do I do now?
Tom: ...You were always interested in politics and history. I remember you talking about Hitler back in 1933.
Frank: Yeah, I still read a lot. I get good stuff in there.
Tom: You were around the old-timers who were dreaming about how the families should be organized, basing them on the old Roman legions, like regimes, capos and soldiers...And it worked.
Frank: Yeah, it worked. Those were the good old days. We were like the Roman Empire. The Corleone family was like the Roman Empire.
Tom: Yeah, it was once...Frankie, when a plot against the emperor failed, the plotters were always given a chance to let their families keep their fortunes.
Frank: Only the rich guys, Tom. The little guys, they got knocked off and their estates went to the emperors, unless they went home and killed themselves, then nothing happened. And their families were taken care of...
Tom: That was a good break, a nice deal.
Frank: Yeah......They went home and sat in a hot bath, opened up their veins and bled to death...Sometimes they had a party before they did it.
Tom: Don't worry about anything, Frankie Five Angels.
Frank: ...Thanks, Tom.



切ない哀愁で涙する名場面です・・・。
ただ、どうしても気になるのは、日本みたいに「切腹、お家安泰」みたいな慣習が古代ローマにあったのか？
コモドゥス帝を暗殺しようとしたクィンティアヌスは処刑されましたし。
ローマ史に詳しい方の教示を乞う。