How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Gladiator.
Quote #4
PROXIMO: Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly we cannot choose how, but we can decide how we meet that end in order that we are remembered as men.
This is Proximo's take on Maximus' idea of our actions echoing in eternity, and Marcus Aurelius' ideas about life having a purpose. For Proximo, being "remembered as men" is the equivalent of becoming immortal. To be remembered as a man, one must fight boldly and heroically…which Maximus does.
Quote #5
MAXIMUS: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
Maximus' life is really more like a death. Death is all around him. All the people he names in this statement of his identity—Marcus Aurelius; his wife and son—have been cruelly murdered.
Quote #6
PROXIMO: We mortals are but shadows and dust.
Proximo loves life, and he loves making money, but he knows that in the end we're all just mortals. We started as shadows and dust, and become shadows and dust at the end. Or do we? Maximus goes to the afterlife. His body may return to "dust" but his spirit journeys on.