Caesar himself walks through the Forum at the head of a platoon. Nice. They build up his return for three weeks, and we never even got to see him march through the gate. What a gyp. They'd better make up for it by showing lots of sex later. Caesar's ditched the armor and the white horse for the occasion, and is instead dressed in one of those red-trimmed white togas that we've seen the Senators wear during meetings. It's good that even after being gone eight years, Caesar still has people who can get him caught up on the latest fashions. The soldiers halt at the foot of the steps to the building with the red-and-white columns, and Caesar mounts the steps alone, except for all the guys flanking the path into the entrance, who are wearing dark red robes and facepaint and chanting, "Jupiter optimus maximus." This must be the temple of Jupiter, I guess. Or they're protesters, and this is the ancient Roman equivalent of a Planned Parenthood clinic. They seem too calm for that, though. Caesar enters.

The opening credits sequence for this show features a shot of a large, white exterior wall that's divided into numbered and lettered sections, with cubbyholes to stick things into. Someone's up on a ladder, doing something with one of the cubbyholes at this point in the episode. I don't fully understand the purpose of this installation, but I think it's some kind of municipal calendar/bulletin board. Where's Steve, my wisecracking time-traveler? I need to hear somebody explain this to him. Caesar's sassy servant Posca walks along past this wall, while another guy stands alone in the plaza chanting, "Jupiter optimus maximus." It seems weird to have people chanting in a different language that people actually spoke then, when we normally hear them speaking English. If they're going to "translate" the dialogue and numbers, seems like they should "translate" everything. But then I suppose it wouldn't be too impressive to have people standing around repeating, "Jupiter is the most optimistic" or whatever that phrase means.

Inside the temple, a large, bronze statue of Jupiter sits, holding a plate of something with one hand while using the other to boldly gesture, "Who's the man? Who's the optimus maximus? Thass right, mortal bitches. Recognize." At Jupiter's feet sit five priests, of whom Caesar requests auguries "so that Rome might know if the gods favor my actions." The Chief Augur points out that Caesar entered Rome under arms: "I must warn you, that seldom augurs well." Kind of odd to hear somebody using that expression literally. Caesar says that the gods know his intentions are peaceful, and so must the people. The priests consult, and the Chief Augur says that auguries will be taken "on the first clean morning." Whatever a clean morning is. Caesar nods gratefully.