Ten Commandments

Moses:
No son could have more love for you than I.

Sethi:
Then why are you forcing me to destroy you? What evil has done this to you?

Moses:
The evil that men should turn their brothers into beasts of burden, to be stripped of spirit, and hope, and strength - only because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a god, he did not mean this to be so.

Sethi:
Harden yourself against subordinates. Have no friend. Trust no woman.

Sethi:
Do you mean to tell me he would turn the slaves against me? I've been his father!

Jannes:
Ambition knows no father.

Sethi:
The one who I choose will be the best man to rule Egypt. I owe that to my fathers, not to my sons.

Moses:
The city is made of bricks. The strong make many, the starving make few, the dead make none. So much for accusations.

Moses:
Great one, I bring you Ethiopia.

Rameses:
Command them to kneel before Pharaoh.

Moses:
Command what you have conquered my brother.

Baka:
We use the old ones for greasing the stones. If they are killed it is no loss.

Moses:
Are you a master builder or a master butcher?

Baka:
If we stop moving stones for every grease woman who falls, the city will not rise.

Joshua:
If their work lags it is because they are not fed.

Moses:
You look strong enough.

Joshua:
I am a stone cutter. The pharoah likes his images cut deep.

Baka:
Will you lose a throne because Moses builds a city?

Rameses:
The city that he builds shall bear my name, the woman that he loves shall bear my child. So let it be written, so let it be done.

Sethi:
Let the name of Moses be stricken from every book and tablet. Stricken from every pylon and obelisk of Egypt. Let the name of Moses be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of man, for all time.

Bithiah:
Your tongue will dig your grave, Memnet.

Joshua:
God made men. Men made slaves.

Nefretiri:
You will be king of Egypt and I will be your footstool!

Moses:
The man stupid enough to use you as a footstool isn't wise enough to rule Egypt.

Moses:
Love cannot drown truth, Nefretiri.

Nefretiri:
Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!

Moses:
What change is there in me? Egyptian or Hebrew I am still Moses. These are the same hands, the same arms, the same face that were mine a moment ago.

Baka:
You make no outcry, Joshua, but you will; you will cry for the mercy of death.

Joshua:
One day you will listen to the cry of slaves.

Baka:
This is not that day, Joshua.

Rameses:
You have a rat's ears and a ferret's nose.

Dathan:
To use in your service, son of Pharaoh.

Rameses:
Now speaks the rat that would be my ears.

Dathan:
Too many ears tie a rat's tongue.

Moses:
It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a god.

Rameses:
You will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, except that I shall love you more - and trust you less.

Sethi:
With my last breath I'll break my own law and speak the name of Moses... Moses.

Moses:
There is a beauty beyond the senses, Nefretiri. Beauty like the quiet of green valleys and still waters. Beauty of the spirit that you cannot understand.

Nefretiri:
You need have no fear of me.

Sephora:
I feared only his memory of you.

Nefretiri:
You have been able to erase it?

Sephora:
He has forgotten both of us. You lost him when he went to seek his god. I lost him when he found his god.

Nefretiri:
I saved your son.

Moses:
It is not my son who will die, it is the first born of Egypt, it is your son, Nefretiri!

Nefretiri:
You would not dare strike Pharaoh's son!

Moses:
In the hardness of his heart, Pharaoh has mocked God and brings death to his own son!

Nefretiri:
But he is my son. You would not kill my son.

Moses:
Without God I am nothing. I am the tool by which he works his will.

Nefretiri:
But I saved your son!

Moses:
I cannot save yours.

Dathan:
Moses has words. Pharaoh has spears!

Commander of the Host:
Let us go from this place, men cannot fight against a God.

Rameses:
Better to die in battle with a God then to live in shame.

Moses:
The Lord of Hosts will do battle for us. Behold his mighty hand.

Moses:
Go, proclaim liberty throughout all the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof.

Rameses:
His God... *is* God!

Sephora:
The Queen of Egypt is beautiful . . as he said.

Dathan:
Where are we going? Do you know where we're going?

Memnet:
What have you found?

Bithiah:
The answer to my prayers!

Memnet:
You prayed for a basket?

Bithiah:
No, I prayed for a son.

Memnet:
Your husband is in the house of the dead.

Bithiah:
And he has asked the Nile God to bring me this beautiful boy.

Memnet:
Do you know the pattern of this cloth?

Bithiah:
If my son is wrapped in it, it is a royal robe!

Bithiah:
They will stop for me!

Dothan:
We shall wander north from Egypt! Do you know why?

Dothan:
No! For food!

Moses:
"have the days of darkness made you see the light"?