Spartacus is a slave in the mines of Libya, though he is much more power, intelligent, and proud than the slaves around him. His perceived arrogance causes him to be punished regularly. His defiant attitude leads him to attack a Roman guard who tries to stop him from supporting another slave. He is tied down and left to rot, but is saved when he is purchased by Batiatus, who buys slaves to turn into gladiators. The new trainees are treated poorly by their trainer Marcellus and pitted against one another. When Spartacus makes an effort to befriend Draba, another trainee, he is turned down based on the idea that they will be forced to kill each other later. He meets Varinia, a slave, and begins to fall in love with her as his training continues. A group of elite Romans, including Crassus, soon arrive at the camp and demand a group of four slaves fight to the death for their entertainment. The group includes both Spartacus and Draba. When Draba defeats Spartacus in battle, he refuses to strike the finishing blow, leading to Crassus killing Draba instead. When Varinia is sold to Crassus, Spartacus objects, and, when attacked by Marcellus, he kills his trainer. This leads the slaves to riot and steal weapons to escape the camp. They travel around to pillage and recruit more people to support them, causing them to become a target. While traveling, Spartacus finds Valinia, who joins their party. Later, Spartacus meets a group of pirates who he trades his wealth to in exchange for ships, claiming that his men could beat the Roman army because they were not afraid to die. Soon, the group is attacked by Glabrus and his garrison, but they are able to defeat the garrison and capture Glabrus. Eventually, Spartacus and his men are seen as a major threat and Crassus is given an army to put them down. When he finally beats them, Crassus says that men will be spared if they reveal who Spartacus is, but each slave claims that they are Spartacus in order to protect their leader. The real Spartacus is ordered to fight to the death, but wins his bout, leading him to be crucified instead. The film was an entertaining retelling of the heroic story of Spartacus and his slave uprising, but it makes clear edits to history in order to create a more compelling narrative. Spartacus is made to be almost completely perfect as the hero, while Crassus is made to be pure evil as the villian.

When I first heard about Epicureanism, I had thought of it as an ideology of those who lived only to serve their own self interest. Instead the philosophy simply allows people to follow some of their basic natural instincts to enjoy something like a good meal, but does not promote complete materialism. It focuses much more on rational thinking than I had previously thought. 

I began my first day of my Epicurean week by traveling to a couple of different parts of campus to see the different parts of nature present in each of them. Doing so helped me to recognize the beauty present on the campus that I often would not spend any time seeing or thinking about, though the thoughts about death in Epicureanism are not enough different from my own ideas on death to cause any deep reflection. When thinking about why I tended to have certain actions I recognized that much of what I did tended to be more about avoiding pain than it was about pursuing pleasure, which, while not all that unexpected, was not something that I had really thought about. When recognizing the things that I did that were not comfortable I did not feel as though I had accomplished much, as these things were all things that I was required to do no matter how much I enjoyed them. While I agree with some of the Epicurean ideas on truth, a lack of background on something can cause your perception to be objectively less correct on a variety of issues, so recognizing your own perception as the truth without question can lead one astray. I often have a very all or nothing approach towards pain and pleasure, for example either having a large dessert or no dessert at all. The concept of the Golden Mean does perhaps result in a more pleasurable average, but it requires more self control than I expect myself to have on some activities. The Epicurean philosophy of attempting to have the least amount of pain in your life in the long run is a philosophy that I try to live by in general, and, if I was able to be perfectly behaved, it is a philosophy that I would live by completely for the rest of my life.

I found the Epicurean week of living philosophically to be easier than the Stoic week, but I did not feel as accomplished by the end. The Stoic ideologies required me to make a larger number of sacrifices in order to try to better myself, which I think makes more sense for me in a situation like this. On the other hand, if I had to pick one of these philosophies to live by for the rest of my life I would easily choose Epicureanism, as it makes far more sense to me. Strictly looking at the principles of Epicureanism, I follow most Epicurean philosophies in my everyday life already, so such a change would not be particularly major, which is also why such a change does not feel particularly impactful or rewarding to me.

The Romans prepare to fight the Germanic tribes under the leadership of their general, Maximus. They are able to defeat them and are seen victorious by emperor Marcus Aurelius. The general and the emperor talk, and Maximum is told by the emperor that when he dies, he would like Maximum to become Rome’s next emperor, because the emperor’s current son, Commodus, would not be a good ruler. When Commodus finds out about what his father thinks, he smothers him with a pillow and feigns innocence. He then arrests Maximus and prepares for him to be executed; but Maximus kills the executioners. When he gets home, Maximus finds that the new emperor has killed his family. He buries them, then passes out, only to wake up as a slave. He is bought by Proximo and trained with the other slaves to fight. However, he refuses to fight, wanting death to end his suffering. When he is put in the arena, he finally fights, showing off his prowess. In Rome, Commodus decides to create a series of gladiatorial games in order to honor the death of his father. Proximo tells Maximus that he was once a slave too, and won his freedom as a gladiator. He takes Maximus to Rome for the gladiatorial games. In the early matches Maximus shows that he is a very capable fighter. Commodus goes down to meet the gladiator and recognizes that it is Maximus; but due to the popularity of Maximus with the crowd, Commodus cannot kill him. Lucilla, the sister of Commodus, speaks with Maximus, but he does not trust her. Maximus continues to win, and Commodus continues to be unable to find a way to kill him. Maximus, on the other hand, creates a plan to kill Commodus by buying his freedom, but he is rejected by Proximo. Lucilla begins to work with Maximus, but she is caught by her brother and reveals everything to him. Proximo then decides that he will let Maximus buy his freedom, and Maximus moves forward with his plan, but is captured. Commodus tells Maximus that they will fight, but stabs him in the back and covers the wound up when he and the crowd cannot see. Eventually they have a real fight, where Maximus kills Commodus but dies afterward due to his wound. This leads to Rome returning to a republic again. While the film was very entertaining and included some realistic elements, it was clear that it was not very closely based on real events.