- Cato: Christianity is very contagious, captain. You never can tell where it will strike next. We want to be certain that it does not strike our valiant soldiers... and their officers.
- Lavinia: If I don't behave, I shall be thrown to the lions. And if I do behave I shall be thrown to the lions, just the same. Is that what you mean?
- Lentulus: You, uh, turn the other cheek when struck, I'm told?
- Ferrovius: Yes! By the grace of God, I do now.
- Lentulus: Not that you're a coward, of course, but out of pure piety?
- Ferrovius: I fear God more than man. At least, I try to.
- Lentulus: Let's see.
- [He slaps Ferrovius hard on his right cheek. Androcles quickly moves to separate them but Ferrovius pushes him aside and turns his head to offer his right check, which Lentulus taps lightly with his hand]
- Lentulus: You know, I should feel ashamed if I let myself be struck like that and took it lying down. But then, I'm not a Christian. I'm a man.
- Androcles: Bravely done, brother. Let him alone, sir, now that you've proved your point.
- Ferrovius: [Holding Lentulus by the arm] Hmmm, 'tis not proved yet. I have not always been faithful. The first man who struck me, as you have just struck me, was a stronger man than you. He hit me harder than I expected. I was tempted and fell. It was then that I first tasted bitter shame. I never had a happy moment after that until I knelt and asked his forgiveness by his bedside in the hospital. Now I have learned to resist with a strength that is not my own. I'm not ashamed now.
- Editor of Gladiators: Caesar will go down in history as the emperor who eliminated these cranks. Hail Caesar!
- Emperor Antoninus (Caesar): On the contrary. I'm more likely to be remembered as the man who did more to perpetuate them.
- Editor of Gladiators: You, Caesar?
- Emperor Antoninus (Caesar): I dare say I am doing more to spread Christianity than all their preachers, missionaries and Gospel writers put together. I shouldn't be surprised if finally I wind up as one of their heroes.
- Editor of Gladiators: Caesar jests of course.
- Emperor Antoninus (Caesar): Caesar does not jest. I wager that for every Christian that dies in the bloody sand, two new ones leave the coliseum.
- Editor of Gladiators: Perhaps then, Caesar should change his tactics.
- Emperor Antoninus (Caesar): Impossible. I am a subject of history and I must submit to its inevitable course. It is my destiny to fan the fires of Christianity by offering them martyrdom in the arena.
- Emperor Antoninus (Caesar): Metellus, you see now the disadvantages of too much severity. These people have no hope, therefore there's nothing to restrain them from saying whatever they like to. They're almost as important as the gladiators.
- Ferrovius: I will not fight. I will die. Better to stand with the archangels than with the Praetorian Guard.
- Emperor Antoninus (Caesar): I cannot believe that the archangels, whoever they may be, would not prefer to be recruited from the Praetorian Guard.