"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? How do you fight an idea?"

"You ask how to fight an idea. Well, I'll tell you how... with another idea!"

"Why did you save me?"

"Why did you have me unchained?"

"What is your name, Forty-One?"

"Judah Ben-Hur."

"Judah Ben-Hur. Let me die."

"We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live."

"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."

"Almost at the moment He died, I heard Him say, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'"

"Even then."

"Even then. And I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand."

"By what magic do you bear the name of a Consul of Rome?"

"You were the magician, Messala. When my ship was sunk, I saved the Consul's life."

"May God grant me vengeance! I will pray that you live until I return!"

"Return?"

"If you were not a bride, I would kiss you goodbye."

"If I were not a bride, there would be no goodbyes to be said."

"Balthasar is a good man. But until all men are like him, we must keep our swords bright!"

"And our intentions true! So I must leave you."

"One last thought: There is no law in the arena; many are killed... I hope to see you again, Judah Ben-Hur."

"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!"

"No."

"I'm thirsty still."

"Forty-one, why did he do that?"

"I don't know. Once before, a man helped me. I didn't know why then."

"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."

"Oh, Judah, rest. Sleep. For a few hours of the night, let your mind be at peace."

"Peace! Love and peace. Do you think I don't long for them as you do? Where do you see them?"

"If you had heard this man from Nazareth..."

"Balthasar's word."

"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.'"

"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!"

"In blood?"

"Yes, in blood!"

"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.'"

"So all who are born in this land hereafter can suffer as we have done!"

"As you make us do now! Are we to bear nothing together? Even love?"

"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!"

"I've lost you, Judah."

"One God, that I can understand; but one wife? That is not civilized. It is not generous!"

"He gave me water, and the heart to live. What has he done to merit this?"

"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."

"For this death?"

"For this beginning."

"Was the food not to your liking?"

"Oh, indeed!"

"[Judah burps in gratitude at Balthasar's gesture]"

"As though he were carrying that cross the pain of the world. So fearful."

"And yet why is it... I'm not afraid anymore?"

"The shadow of a storm. A strange darkness, but still day."

"His life is over."

"He's here. It's tearing... I feel the pain!"

"I feel it too."

"Miriam! Do you see your hand? Tirzah! Miriam!"

"Why are you here?"

"I was ordered to report to you during my relief."

"You could have killed me as I lay there! You're a condemned man, why didn't you?"

"I'm not ready to die."

"What do you think will save you?"

"The God of my fathers."

"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?"

"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?"

"To die as your slave?"

"Better than to live in chains below these decks."

"I will not be here forever."

"No? What would you do, if you escaped?"

"Two people were condemned with me, my mother and sister, even though they were innocent. I will not rest..."

"You do not say that you were innocent."

"Would it do any good to say it again?"

"No."

"You have the spirit to fight back but the good sense to control it. Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-One. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength."

"I can't believe that God has let me live these three years, to die chained to an oar."

"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."

"As you have. What drove it out of you?"

"Go back to your oar, Forty-One."

"We cannot wait, Tribune."

"He will come."

"We cannot wait any longer, Tribune!"

"He will come! He will come. I have sent for him, and he will come!"

"Cut the legs off me... Not yet. Not till I've seen him. I can't receive him with half a body!"