Romulus the Great

The soldier Spurius Titus Mamma arrives at Romulus's run-down country residence, bleeding and exhausted, having ridden day and night to inform the Emperor of the fall of Pavia.

His initiative is that both sides of Rome unite to fight, yet on seeing Romulus's complacence soon decides he would rather set his resistance campaign in motion from Alexandria, whence he resolves to sail the following day.

Romulus, however, married into the ruling bloodline with the sole purpose of liquidating a nation whose nature had become too bloody and violent to justify defence.

Later that night, Rea also visits her father, whom he persuades to pursue her engagement to Emilian, for "it is much greater and harder to be faithful to a person than to the State."

From here, further conspirators are discovered concealed in absurd places in Romulus's bedchamber: the Home Secretary under the divan, Zeno in the cupboard, Spurius Titus Mamma in the wardrobe, all cloaked in black and bearing daggers.

News is brought to him that his two butlers have been offered positions serving Caesar Rupf, with excellent pay, and that the raft carrying Rea, Julia, Emilian, the Home Secretary, the War Minister and the Cook capsized, drowning all those aboard except Zeno.

As Odoacer enters the Villa, Romulus has to see he is tragically mistaken - his adversary is as world-weary as himself, having been forced into a bloody streak of conquest by his people and especially his bloodthirsty nephew Theoderic.

Nonetheless, he yields to the title "King of Italy", bestowing upon Romulus a pension of 6,000 gold coins per year and a countryside villa, in which he must live with his folly for the rest of his life.

Dürrenmatt took some rather great liberties in describing the historical story - in reality, Romulus Augustulus was just a child who spent only a few months in power and depended heavily upon his father, Orestes.