Spies and Lies

Frustrated by Marcus’s continual verbal assaults on the Friends of Jesus, Macky urges Antonius to speak out against him in the Senate. Antonius is reluctant to openly confront Marcus, so he tells Macky the story of Jesus humbly entering Jerusalem on a donkey. Macky counters with the story of Jesus throwing the moneylenders out of the Temple... and Antonius gets an idea. He confronts Marcus in the Senate the next day, and Marcus is caught off-guard, speechless for once. Toadie offers to help Marcus get even with Antonius, but Marcus says he doesn’t need any help, and he fires the incompetent Toadie then and there, right in front of Toadie’s mother, Luciana. The next day, Marcus accuses Antonius of sending someone to spy on him. Antonius is arrested, and Macky feels the inevitable guilt for getting him into a predicament that seems to have no solution. To give Macky encouragement, Felix and Sophia tell Macky the story about the man who was lowered through a roof in order to meet Jesus. Macky and Portia decide to confront the so-called spy. They discover that he’s yet another of Marcus’s dupes, secretly scheduled to be eliminated as soon as he testifies against Antonius. Macky and Portia rescue the hapless spy, triggering a chase across Rome’s rooftops. In the end, the spy vanishes, but Macky and Portia are saved from Marcus’s thugs by Toadie, of all people.