Ben-Hur Page #4

. . .to die chained to an oar.

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.

As you have.

What drove it out of you?

Go back to your oar, 41 .

Consul, enemy sighted.

Signal the fleet.

Prepare for battle.

All the watch to battle posts.

-Stand by to load.

-Make ready to fire.

Hurry, quick!

Hurry up with that resin.

Get some more ammunition.

Raise oars!

Down oars!

Chain rowers!

Guard.

Unlock 41 .

No! I don't want to die!

I don't want to die!

I don't know.

Once before, a man helped me.

I didn't know why then.

Normal speed!

Number 1 , flame.

Fire.

Fire!

Fire!

Hold withdrawal on command.

Lift oars! Raise!

Withdraw!

Steersman, right.

Extend oars!

Fire!

-Watch out!

-Fire!

Steersman, ram course! Order below!

-Ramming speed!

-Ramming speed!

Consul, barge on ramming course.

We're going to be rammed!

We're going to be rammed!

Why did you save me?

Why did you have me unchained?

What is your name, 41 ?

Judah Ben-Hur.

Judah Ben-Hur. . .

. . .Iet me die.

We keep you alive to serve this ship.

Row well and live.

Is the sail square?

I can't tell.

Better for us both if it's the enemy.

My death.

Your freedom.

It's a Roman sail.

Face rear!

Welcome, consul.

We had given up all hope for you.

Water.

The fleet, all lost?

Five galleys.

-And the battle?

-The battle was won.

You have a victory.

-It was a victory?

-Complete.

In His eagerness to save you. . .

. . .your God has also saved

the Roman fleet.

Hail Arrius!

Right oars!

You have cleared the seaways

of a great danger, Quintus Arrius.

This baton of victory

has been nobly won.

This man riding beside you, who is he?

The man who saved me, divine emperor,

to return and serve you.

Is that all you know about him?

No. He was accused of an attack

on the governor of Judea.

But he was innocent.

If not, there's a strange

inconsistency in this man. . .

. . .who tries to kill my governor,

yet saves the life of my consul.

Come tomorrow. We'll talk of it.

We have all the information

on this man. . .

. . .a man of some influence

in his own country.

His attack upon our governor is one

upon the senate and the people of Rome.

I am convinced that

no such attack was intended.

Consul, allow us to continue.

Allow us to be generous.

As a reward to you

for your great victory. . .

. . .we shall not send him back to

the galleys. Take him as your slave.

Such is the will of the senate. . .

. . .and the people of Rome.

Not long ago, I returned to Rome. . .

. . .with a young man

who had saved my life.

You all know him as

the finest charioteer in Rome.

Five times, he's driven

my horses to victory.

I know him as one who stands

in the place of the son I lost.

I have the love and pride

in a son's achievements. . .

. . .which I thought

I should never have again.

Nothing could make stronger

our bond. . .

. . .but tonight I wish

to share it with you all.

The formalities of adoption

have been completed.

Young Arrius is now

the legal bearer of my name. . .

. . .and the heir to my property.

This ring of my ancestors. . .

. . .would have gone to my son.

So now it is yours.

It's a strange destiny that

brought me to a new life. . .

. . .a new home. . .

. . .a new father.

It brought me here.

It may take me away.

But wherever I may be. . .

. . .I shall always try to wear this ring

as a son of Arrius should.

With gratitude and affection. . .

. . .and with honor.

My old friend Pontius Pilate,

young Arrius.

Before you came to this city,

my horses always won.

Magnificent horses, extremely swift.

Yes, but not swift enough

to defeat you.

-Tell me, you come from Judea?

-Yes, sir.

I hear that the climate

is difficult to live in.

Not for Judeans.

It's a terrible prospect.

I am to be made governor.

-Of Judea?

-Yes.

I asked for Alexandria.

But it seems the wilderness

needs my particular talents.

The scorpions and holy prophets

can't get on without me.

Lay the dust of Judea,

at least for this evening.

Goats and Jehovah.

You're leaving.

I must.

It's a journey I can't keep you from.

Your eyes have never left it all

these months. I can recognize pain.

But still, my counsel is to wait.

Gratus is to be replaced.

The governorship goes

to Pontius Pilate.

When?

Very soon.

It's very much to our purpose.

Nothing is to the purpose if, when

I come back to Judea, I come too late.

That is the thought which has punished

me every moment I've spent here.

Will Rome see you again?

Here is a part of my life

which you have made for me.

I shall remember it.

Whoever the gods are, they take

small interest in an old man's hopes.

They have their way.

Forgive me.

You're a stranger here.

Would you be from Nazareth?

Why do you ask?

I thought. . .

. . .you might be the one--

The one that I have come back

from my country to find.

He would be about your age.

Who?

When I find Him. . .

. . .I shall know Him.

Oh, but forgive me.

I am Balthasar of Alexandria.

I am the guest of Sheik llderim.

Sack of flesh without brains!

No! No! Not the whip!

That is my host.

Gently! Gently!

Fool! Headless toad!

You know nothing of horses!

Whip my children once and

I'll drain every drop of your blood.

Now, gently around the first turn,

and let them run! Go on!

Keep my words in your head!

Let us see some wisdom!

Beautiful horses.

Now! Now! They are ready!

Let them go!

Watch. They'll never hold the turn.

No! No!

Abadon, stop him!

Stop that whip!

I'll kill him! I'll kill--!

Moonhead!

Give me those reins, you fool!

You think you can treat

my horses like animals?!

Drive cows and goats!

That's all you're fit for!

Get off, idiot!

Drive goats, not horses!

I am doomed.

You saw what happened here?

This traveler told what would happen

before it happened.

Your horses are very fine,

but they're not a team.

Not a team?

But one of them held steady,

the one on the outside.

-Antares.

-The slow one?

He should run on the inside where

he can steady the others in the turns.

You have a keen eye.

Where did you acquire it?

In the circus in Rome.

You have driven in the great circus?

Tell me, my friend, could you

make my four run as one?

I'm on my way to Jerusalem.

Would your caravan rest until tomorrow?

We have time enough

to eat, drink and talk.

Come into my tent

and refresh yourself.

And let me hear how you raced in Rome.

If I had a voice to sing,

I would sing you the psalm of horses.

No other animal has

descended so in scale. . .

. . .from the first innocent falling

of the world.

And tomorrow, I shall put Antares

on the inside.

When you do, shorten the yoke.

It will help them in the turns.

Judah Ben-Hur.

You're a Jew,

yet you drove in the great circus.

Yes.

By a strange choice

and a stranger fortune.

Your coming here was so fit, so right.

We might have achieved wonders!

You have to go.

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