Here the cyclops is the last survivor of species who once fought the Roman Army and ends up in the Circus Maximus.

They are interrupted by their owner, a ferocious cyclops, the last of his kind, which kills them all but one who escapes back to Rome.

Although Marcus leads the contingent which captures them, he is against slavery and argues with the emperor's main consultant Falco (Craig Archibald).

The infuriated Tiberius Caesar punishes Marcus for his insubordination by sporting him as a gladiator.

Marcus does well in the arena and discovers he can teach the cyclops words and simple ideas while the swift giant is in his cell.