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Judas: Why must men doubt? Tell them they must keep faith! They must keep faith!
[walking away]
Demetrius: Wait, tell who? Who are you?
Judas: My name is Judas.
-
Caligula: They're going into a better kingdom! They're going into a better kingdom! They're going to meet their king! They're going to meet their king!
-
[repeated line]
Marcellus Gallio: Were you... out there?
-
Demetrius: [to Marcellus] You crucified him. You, my master. Yet you freed me. I'll never serve you again, you Roman pig. Masters of the world, you call yourselves. Thieves! Murderers! Jungle animals! A curse on you! A curse on your empire!
-
Emperor Tiberius: When it comes, this is how it will start. Some obscure martyr in some forgotten province, then madness. Infecting the legions, rocking the empire, then the finish of Rome.
-
Diana: [Marcellus has just been sentenced to execution; Diana leaves the podium to stand at his side] Sire, Marcellus is my chosen husband. I wish to go with him.
Caligula: Stand back! You're not on trial! There's no evidence against you!
Diana: Then if it please you, sire, I'll provide evidence. I have no wish to live another hour in an empire ruled by *you*! You dare to call yourself a Caesar. Once the Caesars of Rome were noble, but in you, noble blood has turned to poison. You corrupt Rome with your spite and malice.
Caligula: Stop! Stop it!
Diana: That *you* should be Caesar, vicious, treacherous, drunk with power, an evil, insane monster posing as emperor.
Caligula: STOP IT!
Diana: As for me, I have found another king. I want to go with my husband into his kingdom.
Caligula: Then, by the gods, you shall! Go, both of you, into your kingdom!
-
Jesus Christ: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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Demetrius: Make Pilate understand that if he stains his hands with his blood, he's worse than a murderer.
-
Demetrius: [awaking to darkness] Is it night?
Jerusalem woman aiding Demetrius: No. It's the middle of the day. This isn't like other days.
-
Marcellus Gallio: [waking up from a nightmare of Jesus being nailed to the cross] No! No! Stop it! Stop it!
Marcellus Gallio: [runs out on deck] Stop it! Why don't you stop it!
Ship's captain: Stop what, sir?
Marcellus Gallio: Were you out there?
-
Marcellus Gallio: Surely you don't believe he rose from the dead.
Justus: He lives more surely than we do.
Marcellus Gallio: He's DEAD! And no moonstruck girl can sing him to life again!
Justus: How do you know that he's dead?
Marcellus Gallio: The soldier told me. The soldier who saw the lance thrust into his side. The soldier who was - out there!
Justus: What's wrong?
Marcellus Gallio: Were you out there?
-
Peter: Let me tell you of the burden I bear. Justus told the others I was steadfast. He didn't know. The night Jesus needed me most, I denied him... not once... but 3 times. I swore I never knew him. Now...
Marcellus Gallio: [stammering, pointing to himself] I... crucified him.
Peter: I know. Demetrius told me.
Marcellus Gallio: [shocked] And you can forgive me?
Peter: He forgave you from the cross. Can I do less? Now, is there anything stopping you? Can you become one of us?
Marcellus Gallio: [new strength in his voice] From this day forward, I am enlisted in His service. I offer Him my fortune, my sword, and my life. And this I pledge to you on my honor as a Roman.
-
Caligula: Enough for now. He's no use to us dead.
-
Emperor Tiberius: After forty years with Julia, my approaching death holds few terrors for me.
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Pontius Pilate: Give me water to wash my hands.
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Diana: Then all the tales I've heard of you are true.
Marcellus Gallio: Every man makes enemies.
Diana: All your enemies seem to be women.
-
Demetrius: Until now you only remembered what you did to a man. The wrong, and your shame. But now - you remember the man.
-
Caligula: You put him to death? Then why are you risking your life for him?
Marcellus Gallio: I owe Him more than my life.
-
Emperor Tiberius: Tell me, what was your impression of Pilate?
Marcellus Gallio: It's not my place to...
Emperor Tiberius: I'm asking you. Did you find him capable?
Marcellus Gallio: Yes sire, he's considered a good administrator.
Emperor Tiberius: Stern, as befits a Roman governor?
Marcellus Gallio: I'm sure of that, sire.
Emperor Tiberius: Just?
Marcellus Gallio: I - I can't say.
Emperor Tiberius: Why not? Surely you can give me some sort of an answer? Tell me, tribune - what happened out there?
-
Emperor Tiberius: For your sake I interfered, when my wife wanted to give you to Caligula. For your sake I brought your tribune back from Palestine. For your sake, I now free you from him.
Diana: Sire, I have no wish to be free.
Emperor Tiberius: Have you gone mad too?
Diana: He had everything then. He could have had me too. I wanted him, but I wasn't sure that I loved him. Now I am sure.
Emperor Tiberius: I see it my duty to forbid you to see him again. As a child you were wise, but now you reason like a woman - foolishly.
-
Demetrius: You're afraid, but you really don't know the reason why. You think it's his robe that made you ill. But it's your own conscience, your own decent shame. Even when you crucified him you felt it.
-
Diana: Are you still ill?
Marcellus Gallio: No, I'm well. Really well, for the first time in my life.
-
Diana: No, Marcellus, they'll kill you!
Marcellus Gallio: You must have faith...
Diana: Faith in what? This new God of yours? How can he help you? He couldn't help his own son. They crucified him and they'll kill you too!
-
Emperor Tiberius: Tribune Gallio, you are a Roman officer. I command you to gain control over yourself.
-
Diana: Perhaps you don't believe that a girl of eleven could fall in love, and stay in love all these years...
Marcellus Gallio: Don't cry, my love. Lucia thought I was in love, and I laughed at her, but women are wise in these matters.
-
Diana: It's good to see you, Marcellus.
Marcellus Gallio: It's ah - good to see you - again.
Diana: Then you do remember me?
Marcellus Gallio: Ah - yes, of course. Let me see now, it was the - was the...
Diana: And your promise, have you forgotten that too?
Marcellus Gallio: What promise?
Diana: To marry me.
Marcellus Gallio: Was I drunk?
Diana: That's not very flattering, Marcellus.
Marcellus Gallio: Oh, I - I mean, if you'd tell me when I was supposed to have said this - the circumstances...
Diana: Oh, I remember them perfectly. I'd cut my finger, and I cried. And then you took the dagger and cut your own finger to show that it didn't really hurt, and then you kissed me, and I stopped crying - and then you promised to marry me when we grew up.
Marcellus Gallio: Dianna! Where have your freckles gone?
Diana: I lost them.
Marcellus Gallio: Oh, I loved every one of them.
Diana: Then I'm sorry I lost them.
-
Pontius Pilate: Even my wife had an opinion.
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Marcipor: To be a slave in this household is an honor.
Demetrius: [disdainfully] To be a slave anywhere is to be a dog.
-
Marcellus Gallio: [after learning that Caligula has posted him to a back-water military command far away from Rome] Where's Jerusalem?
Sen. Gallio: Palestine - the worst pesthole in the Empire. They're stiff-necked, riotous people, always on the verge of rebellion. Our Legions there are the scum of the army - the officers little better than the men. Disease takes them off like flies. Some have been assassinated - sometimes by their own men. Others have spared the assassins the trouble. What Caligula hopes he has given you is your death sentence.
-
Judas: [to Demetrius, trying to explain why Jesus has been betrayed to the Romans] Because men are weak. Because they are cursed with envy and cowardice. Because they can dream of truth... but cannot live with it. So they doubt. They doubt, the fools!
The Robe Quotes
Extended Reading
