Agora Quotes
A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hope of pursuing freedom while falling in love with his mistress, the famous philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria.
Heladius Dignitary: The majority of us here... have accepted Christ. Why not the rest of you? It's only a matter of time and you know it.
Hypatia: Really? It is just a matter of time?... As far as I am aware, your God has not yet proved himself to be more just or more merciful than his predecessors. Is it really just a matter of time before I accept your faith?
Heladius Dignitary: Why should this assembly accept the council of someone who admittedly believes in absolutely nothing?
Hypatia: I believe in philosophy.
Hypatia: Really? It is just a matter of time?... As far as I am aware, your God has not yet proved himself to be more just or more merciful than his predecessors. Is it really just a matter of time before I accept your faith?
Heladius Dignitary: Why should this assembly accept the council of someone who admittedly believes in absolutely nothing?
Hypatia: I believe in philosophy.
Hypatia: Ever since Plato, all of them - Aristarchus, Hipparchus, Ptolemy - they have all, all, all tried to reconcile their observations with circular orbits. But what if another shape is hiding in the heavens?
Davus: Another shape? Lady, there is no shape more pure than the circle; you taught us that.
Hypatia: I know, I know, but suppose - just suppose! - the purity of the circle has blinded us from seeing anything beyond it! I must begin all over with new eyes. I must rethink everything!... What if we dared to look at the world just as it is. Let us shed for a moment every preconceived idea - what shape would it show us?
Davus: Another shape? Lady, there is no shape more pure than the circle; you taught us that.
Hypatia: I know, I know, but suppose - just suppose! - the purity of the circle has blinded us from seeing anything beyond it! I must begin all over with new eyes. I must rethink everything!... What if we dared to look at the world just as it is. Let us shed for a moment every preconceived idea - what shape would it show us?
