Monty Python – Romanes Eunt Domus!?

In this English Lunch we had some more fun with Monty Python!
We took a look at another famous scene, this time from the movie ‘Life of Brian’.

In this scene Brian – who wants to join the ‘PFJ’ – will need to complete the task of writing ‘Romans go home’ graffiti onto a local Roman building.

We firstly took a look at the movie clip and then – after agreeing on who was to play which part – we put our acting skills to the test…
You can find the link to the movie clip, the cast (!) as well as the script below.

The cast:

CENTURIAN: played by Richard
BRIAN: played by Heidi
ROMAN SOLDIER: played by Dean

The sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8

CENTURION: What’s this, then? ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’? ‘People called Romanes they go the house’?

BRIAN: It– it says, ‘Romans, go home’.

CENTURION: No, it doesn’t. What’s Latin for ‘Roman’? Come on!

BRIAN: Aah!

CENTURION: Come on!

BRIAN: ‘R– Romanus’?

CENTURION: Goes like…?

BRIAN: ‘Annus’?

CENTURION: Vocative plural of ‘annus’ is…?

BRIAN: Eh. ‘Anni’?

CENTURION: ‘Romani’. ‘Eunt’? What is ‘eunt’?

BRIAN: ‘Go’. Let–

CENTURION: Conjugate the verb ‘to go’.

BRIAN: Uh. ‘Ire’. Uh, ‘Eo’. ‘Is’. ‘It’. ‘Imus’. ‘Itis’. ‘Eunt’.

CENTURION: So ‘eunt’ is…?

BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, ‘they go’.

CENTURION: But ‘Romans, go home’ is an order, so you must use the…?

BRIAN: The… imperative!

CENTURION: Which is…?

BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, ‘i’. ‘I’!

CENTURION: How many Romans?

BRIAN: Ah! ‘I’– Plural. Plural. ‘Ite’. ‘Ite’.

CENTURION: ‘Ite’.

BRIAN: Ah. Eh.

CENTURION: ‘Domus’?

BRIAN: Eh.

CENTURION: Nominative?

BRIAN: Oh.

CENTURION: ‘Go home’? This is motion towards. Isn’t it, boy?

BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! (CENTURIAN draws sword) Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the… accusative! Accusative! Ah! ‘Domum’, sir! ‘Ad Domum’! Ah! Oooh! Ah!

CENTURION: Except that ‘domus’ takes the…?

BRIAN: The vocative, sir!

CENTURION: Which is…?!

BRIAN: ‘Domum’.

CENTURION: ‘Domum’.

BRIAN: Aaah! Ah.

CENTURION: ‘Um’. Understand?

BRIAN: Yes, sir.

CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times.

BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.

CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it’s not done by sunrise, I’ll cut your balls off.

BRIAN: Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir! Oh. Mmm!

Finished!

ROMAN SOLDIER: Right. Now don’t do it again.