Quintus Arrius Quotes in Ben-Hur (1959)

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

[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.

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

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.

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.

Quintus Arrius: [a galley's 200 rowers are gradually told to increase their pace] Battle speed!... Attack speed!... Ramming speed!

Tiberius Caesar: [Tiberius Caesar sees Judah Ben-Hur, in Arrius' chariot] This man riding beside you, who is he?

Quintus Arrius: The man who saved me, divine Emperor, to return and serve you.

Tiberius Caesar: Is that all you know of him?

Quintus Arrius: No. He was accused of an attack on the governor of Judea. But he was innocent.

Tiberius Caesar: If not, there is a strange inconsistency in this man, who tries to kill my governor, yet saves the life of my Consul. Come tomorrow, and we will talk of him.