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.
