soon after the funeral, octavianus meets pansa (jack angel), formerly caesar's most trusted spy. with pansa's help, octavianus sneaks into the senate where maecenas (larry cedar), antonius' secretary, proposes that rather than immediately executing vipsanius, they hold a gladiatorial tournament across the empire, the winner of which will perform the execution. antonius approves of the idea, but dictates that vipsania (moira quirk), vipsanius' wife, be publicly executed immediately. agrippa arrives back in rome, and octavianus explains the situation. at the execution, presided over by decius brutus (daniel riordan), agrippa attempts to save vipsania, but as they flee, she is stabbed in the back by decius, who then defeats agrippa in combat. however, before agrippa can be arrested, he and octavianus are saved by a woman on a chariot. she reveals her name is claudia (nicole balick), a female gladiator. she tells them about the gladiatorial tournament, and that her brother, sextus (roger rose) runs a gladiator camp which agrippa could join to gain entry to the tournament and possibly save his father. meanwhile, octavianus will remain in rome and investigate the murder.