Henry Wilcoxon credited as playing...
Ahtur
- Saran of Gaza: Tell this council the weapon used against you. Well, tell them. Speak.
- Prince Ahtur: [hesitates] The jawbone of an ass.
- Saran of Gaza: [laughs] Lord Athur, Military Governor of Dan, Prince of Philistia, Emir of Armies, beaten with the jawbone of an ass!
- Tubal: Your rich gifts rob me of words, Ahtur.
- Prince Ahtur: They'll rob you of a daughter, Tubal, and enrich me with a wife.
- Samson: [reaching for a cluster of grapes that Semadar has held up high] A man shouldn't have to reach at his own wedding feast.
- Semadar: The most desirable grapes are always out of reach.
- Samson: [reaches again] Not if you reach high enough.
- Prince Ahtur: [grabs the cluster of grapes from Semadar's hand] Or wait long enough.
- Semadar: You waited too long, Ahtur.
- Samson: For what?
- Prince Ahtur: Entertainment.
- Semadar: Why should our guests care about a stupid game of words?
- Prince Ahtur: It's no game to them. It's Danite against Philistine.
- Semadar: The wine has dulled their senses.
- Prince Ahtur: It hasn't dulled their anger.
- Semadar: You're trying to frighten me because you don't want me to marry Samson.
- Prince Ahtur: I don't want you to marry Samson but... there's hatred down there at your wedding feast. They think you've joined Samson against us.
- Semadar: But I haven't. Tell them I haven't.
- Prince Ahtur: No. You tell them the answer to the riddle.
- Semadar: But I don't know it.
- Prince Ahtur: Unfortunate.
- Semadar: Ahtur, Samson has told me nothing.
- Prince Ahtur: Surely he'll share the answer with so lovely a bride.
- Semadar: But if he won't?
- Prince Ahtur: Get it... or death may solve the Danite's riddle.
- Prince Ahtur: This Samson has some unknown power, some secret that gives him superhuman strength. No man can stand against him.
- Delilah: Perhaps he'll fall before a woman. Even Samson's strength must have a weakness. There isn't a man in the world who would not share his secrets with some woman.
- Samson: You like to have people bow to the might of spears. I like to have spears...
- [bends spear]
- Samson: bow to people.
- [looks at Semadar]
- Samson: Especially beautiful women.
- Prince Ahtur: You destroy a weapon that you lack skill to use.
- Samson: Perhaps Semadar will teach me. After our marriage.
- Prince Ahtur: Marriage?
- [chuckles]
- Prince Ahtur: Your humor is even greater than your strength.
- Prince Ahtur: l've wasted a year chasing lies and rumors. l've flogged Danites, hung them in chains, Burned them, But they won't give him up.
- Saran of Gaza: Apparently they love Samson more than they fear you.
- Prince Ahtur: Look at her, Samson. Look well and remember the perfume of her hair, the softness of her lips, the fire of her embrace. Satan himself taught her all the arts of deception. lt's easier to catch the moonlight, than to hold such a woman.
- Saran of Gaza: Now, where is the lord Ahtur?
- Prince Ahtur: I am here, mighty Saran.
- Saran of Gaza: Mighty? In what? Certainly not my army. Have you come to tell us of your triumph? Your messenger has given us a very thorough account. He even told us how your warrior Zamath charged like a lion, only to have his skull crushed like an egg, right through his helmet. And with what, high prince Ahtur? Tell this council the weapon used against you. Well? Tell them. Speak.
- Prince Ahtur: The jawbone of an ass.
- Saran of Gaza: [bitter laughter] Lord Ahtur, military governor of Dan, prince of Phliistia, hamid of armies... beaten with the jawbone of an ass! Our armies that scattered the Hittites, that swept the Amorites before them, that cut through Canaan to conquer as far as the circle of the earth... beaten with the jawbone of an ass! Are you a soldier - or a clown commanding fools? What is the number of all the forces at our command, Lord Sharif?
- Lord Sharif, Delilah: Of chariots, six hundred heavy, one thousand light.
- Saran of Gaza: Yes.
- Lord Sharif: Five hundred dromedaries of the swiftest. Two thousand horsemen without the palace guard.
- Saran of Gaza: Yes.
- Lord Sharif: Three thousand heavy armored spearmen of the elite. Eight thousand...
- Saran of Gaza: Yes, yes... and we're beaten by the jawbone of an ass! Am I the Lord of the Five Cities to be laughed at before the world? Before my subject peoples? Because a Danite herdsmen routs my armies,,,
- [to scribe]
- Saran of Gaza: Don't set that down, you fool!... burns my crops, pillages caravans at will, even carries away the gates of my city!
- Prince Ahtur: I asked you for ten thousand men so I could crush these Danites for all time. Instead, you gave me tax collectors.
- Saran of Gaza: Tax collectors delivered Samson into your hands, didn't they? It was you who couldn't hold him!
- Prince Ahtur: This Samson has some unknown power, some... some secret that gives him superhuman strength. No man can stand before him!
- Delilah: Perhaps he'll fall before a woman.