If he who told thee that whereof thou speakest was a friend acquainted with my history, and spoke of it not harshly, he must have persuaded thee that I could not be else than a man distrustful of my kind.

The God of Israel help him who, at the end of life, is constrained to acknowledge so much! My loves are few, but they are.

One of them is a soul which"-- he carried the hand holding his to his lips, in manner unmistakable--"a soul which to this time has been unselfishly mine, and such sweet comfort that, were it taken from me, I would die." Esther's head drooped until her cheek touched his.
"The other love is but a memory; of which I will say further that, like a benison of the Lord, it hath a compass to contain a whole family, if only"-- his voice lowered and trembled--"if only I knew where they were." Ben-Hur's face suffused, and, advancing a step, he cried, impulsively, "My mother and sister! Oh, it is of them you speak!" Esther, as if spoken to, raised her head; but Simonides returned to his calm, and answered, coldly, "Hear me to the end.

Because I am that I am, and because of the loves of which I have spoken, before I make return to thy demand touching my relations to the Prince Hur, and as something which of right should come first, do thou show me proofs of who thou art.

Is thy witness in writing?
Or cometh it in person ?" The demand was plain, and the right of it indisputable.