Ben-Hur (1959)

Jack Hawkins: Quintus Arrius

Photos 

Quotes 

• 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.

• 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.

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

• Quintus Arrius : Whoever the gods are, they take small interest in an old man's hopes.