Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Quintus Arrius: Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Sextus: You can break a man's skull, you can arrest him, you can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here?
[taps his head]
Sextus: How do you fight an idea?

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

[Quintas Arrius wakes up, chained, on ship debris; the chain is held by Judah]
Quintus Arrius: Why did you save me?
Judah Ben-Hur: Why did you have me unchained?
[they struggle briefly, Arrius is overpowered; he looks at the shackle on Judah's ankle]
Quintus Arrius: What is your name, Forty-One?
Judah

Ben-Hur: Judah Ben-Hur.
Quintus Arrius: Judah Ben-Hur. Let me die.
Judah Ben-Hur: [ironically] We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Esther: It was Judah Ben-Hur I loved. What has become of him? You seem to be now the very thing you set out to destroy. Giving evil for evil. Hatred is turning you to stone. It's as though you had become Messala.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Quintus Arrius: In his eagerness to save you, your God has also saved the Roman fleet.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

[Messala is mortally injured after being trampled in the chariot race]
Doctor: We cannot wait, Tribune.
Messala: [softly] He will come.
[he convulses with pain; they hold him down]
Doctor: We cannot wait any longer, Tribune!
Messala: [shouts] He will come! He will come. I have sent for him, and

he will come!
Doctor: If you wish us to keep you alive, we have to go to work *now*, Tribune. Do you understand?
Messala: Cut the legs off me... Not yet. Not till I've seen him. I can't receive him with half a body!
[Drusus and the surgeon share a look; they begin binding Messala in preparation for amputation]
Messala:

[struggling] NO!
[Judah appears in the doorway]
Messala: I told you, Drusus; I told you! There he is.
[Judah approaches and stands over Messala]
Messala: Triumph c... triumph complete, Judah. The race won, the enemy destroyed.
Judah Ben-Hur: I see no enemy.
Messala: What do you think you

see? The smashed body of a wretched animal? There's enough of a man still left here for you to hate. Let me help you.
[he convulses with pain]
Messala: You think they're dead, your mother and sister? Dead, and the race over? It isn't over, Judah. They're not dead.
Judah Ben-Hur: [leaning closer] Where are they?
[pause]

Judah Ben-Hur: Where are they? WHERE ARE THEY?
Messala: [with grim satisfaction] Look... look for them... in the Valley... of the Lepers! If you can recognize them!
[Judah doubles over with grief]
Messala: It goes on. It goes on, Judah. The race... the race... is not... over!
[he dies]

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

[last lines]
Judah Ben-Hur: Almost at the moment He died, I heard Him say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Esther: Even then.
Judah Ben-Hur: Even then. And I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand.
[Miriam and Tirzah appear at the top of the stairs; Judah goes up to them, sees that they

have been miraculously healed; they embrace each other]

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Messala: By what magic do you bear the name of a Consul of Rome?
Judah Ben-Hur: You were the magician, Messala. When my ship was sunk, I saved the Consul's life.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Judah Ben-Hur: [after he is sentenced to the galleys] May God grant me vengeance! I will pray that you live until I return!
Messala: [ironically] Return?

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Sheik Ilderim: Balthasar is a good man. But until all men are like him, we must keep our swords bright!
Judah Ben-Hur: And our intentions true! So I must leave you.
Sheik Ilderim: One last thought: There is no law in the arena; many are killed... I hope to see you again, Judah Ben-Hur.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Messala: Sextus, you ask how to fight an idea. Well I'll tell you how... with another idea!

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Judah Ben-Hur: If you were not a bride, I would kiss you goodbye.
Esther: If I were not a bride, there would be no goodbyes to be said.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Quintus Arrius: Now listen to me, all of you. You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well, and live.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Judah Ben-Hur: He gave me water, and the heart to live. What has he done to merit this?
Balthasar: He has taken the world of our sins onto Himself. To this end He said He was born, in that stable, where I first saw Him. For this cause, He came into the world.
Judah Ben-Hur: For this death?
Balthasar: For this

beginning.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

[on Arrius' orders, Judah is left unlocked for the upcoming battle; Judah touches his unchained ankle, bewildered]
Rower No. 42: Forty-one, why did he do that?
Judah Ben-Hur: I don't know.
[remembering Nazareth]
Judah Ben-Hur: Once before, a man helped me. I didn't know why then.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Judah Ben-Hur: [dipping a hand in a stream] When the Romans were marching me to the galleys, thirst had almost killed me. A man gave me water to drink, and I went on living. I should have done better if I'd poured it into the sand!
Balthasar: No.
Judah Ben-Hur: I'm thirsty still.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Esther: Oh, Judah, rest. Sleep. For a few hours of the night, let your mind be at peace.
Judah Ben-Hur: [bitterly] Peace! Love and peace. Do you think I don't long for them as you do? Where do you see them?
Esther: If you had heard this man from Nazareth...
Judah Ben-Hur: Balthasar's word.

Esther: He is more than Balthasar's word. His voice traveled with such a still purpose... It was more than a voice... a man more than a man! He said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."
Judah Ben-Hur: Children of God? In that dead valley where we left them? I

tell you every man in Judea is unclean, and will *stay* unclean, until we've scoured off our bodies the crust and filth of being at the mercy of tyranny. No other life is possible except to wash this land clean!
Esther: In blood?
Judah Ben-Hur: Yes, in blood!
Esther: I know there is a law in life, that blood gets more blood as

dog begets dog. Death generates death, as the vulture breeds the vulture! But the voice I heard today on the hill said, "Love your enemy. Do good to those who despitefully use you."
Judah Ben-Hur: So all who are born in this land hereafter can suffer as we have done!
Esther: As you make us do now! Are we to bear nothing together? Even love?

Judah Ben-Hur: I can hardly draw breath without feeling you in my heart. Yet I know that everything I do from this moment will be as great a pain to you as you have ever suffered. It is better not to love me!
Esther: It was Judah Ben-Hur I loved. What has become of him? You seem to be now the very thing you set out to destroy, giving evil for evil! Hatred

is turning you to stone. It is as though you had become Messala!
[Judah looks at Esther, shocked]
Esther: [sadly] I've lost you, Judah.

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Sheik Ilderim: One God, that I can understand; but one wife? That is not civilized.
[nudges Judah]
Sheik Ilderim: It is not generous!

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Ben-Hur

Miriam: [speaking of Christ] As though he were carrying that cross the pain of the world.
[she whispers]
Miriam: So fearful.
Tirzah: And yet why is it... I'm not afraid anymore?
[thunder rumbles]
Esther: The shadow of a storm.
[they go inside a nearby cave; the sky goes dark outside]

Esther: A strange darkness, but still day.
[a violent storm begins]
Miriam: His life is over.
[lightning cracks]
Tirzah: He's here. It's tearing... I feel the pain!
Miriam: I feel it too.
[They seem to faint]
Esther: [concerned] Miriam?
[Miriam presses

Esther's hand]
Esther: I thought that... Miriam! Do you see your hand?
[They look; Tirzah sits up, healed]
Esther: Tirzah! Miriam!
[They touch each other's faces, feel their hands, embrace as they realize they've been healed]

Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur

Quintus Arrius: [startled from sleep by Judah's arrival] Why are you here?
Judah Ben-Hur: I was ordered to report to you during my relief.
Quintus Arrius: Oh yes, I had forgotten.
[he rises]
Quintus Arrius: You could have killed me as I lay there! You're a condemned man, why didn't you?

Judah Ben-Hur: I'm not ready to die.
Quintus Arrius: What do you think will save you?
Judah Ben-Hur: The God of my fathers.
Quintus Arrius: Your God has forsaken you. He has no more power than the images I pray to. My gods do not help me. Your God will not help you. I might. Does that interest you, Forty-One?


[pause]
Quintus Arrius: I can see that it does. I'm a fighting man by profession, and in my leisure moments, it amuses me to train fighting men. I own some of the best gladiators and charioteers in Rome. Would you like to become one of them?
Judah Ben-Hur: To die as your slave?
Quintus Arrius: Better than to live in

chains below these decks.
Judah Ben-Hur: I will not be here forever.
Quintus Arrius: No? What would you do, if you escaped?
Judah Ben-Hur: Two people were condemned with me, my mother and sister, even though they were innocent. I will not rest...
Quintus Arrius: [interrupting] You do not say that you

were innocent.
Judah Ben-Hur: Would it do any good to say it again?
Quintus Arrius: No. Now consider my offer carefully. You will never escape while we are victorious. If we are not, you will sink with this ship, chained to your oar.
Judah Ben-Hur: I can't believe that God has let me live these three years, to die chained to

an oar.
Quintus Arrius: It's a strange, stubborn faith you keep. To believe that existence has a purpose! A sane man would have learned to lose it long before this.
Judah Ben-Hur: As you have. What drove it out of you?
Quintus Arrius: Go back to your oar, Forty-One.