Quotes

Atlantis, terre engloutie

[first lines]
Narrator: When Columbus discovered America, a series of mysteries arose to confound the scholars of Europe. Here are two continents, completely isolated from each other, yet they simultaneously developed similar cultures. For example, the Mayans measured time on the same principle as the Gregorian calendar of Europe. They used the same signs of the zodiac, the same decimal and mathematical system. They valued silver and gold, using both for jewelry and barter. Another mystery was the banana plant, a native of Asia that cannot be grown from seed, yet Columbus found it thriving in the New World. Elephants at that time did not exist in the Americas, yet their likenesses were cleaved on the walls of prehistoric caves in Peru. The pyramids in Mexico and in Egypt were built on identical architectural principles. Then there was the striking resemblance of a witch of Spain, and the witch depicted in the New World. But the most significant of all, Mayan and Aztec legends shared with Greek and Hebrew and Assyrian literature an account of a terrible deluge, a deluge many believe had destroyed the link, the mother empire, that had spread her civilization to both sides of the Atlantic. The Greek scholar Plato recorded this theory first, over two thousand years ago. There was once another continent: Atlantis: The Lost Continent.

Azor the High Priest: Empty! Just as all the others. The bees have deserted us.
Demetrios: Strange.
Azor the High Priest: Each morning of my life I have awakened to the singing of birds. Now only silence greets the day. Perhaps it is instinct, call it what you will, but they *sense* something, something evil. A strange breeze now rises with every outgoing tide, blowing dead leaves out toward the open sea. The humblest insects seem to know it carries them, not to destruction, but to survival. Even the seeds forsake their mother soil. All nature senses that the end is near. Man alone turns deaf ears to nature's warnings.

Petros, Demetrios' Father: Now, listen, and listen well, Princess. In our land, we have no kings, no king's daughters, no slaves. We are all free men, treating one another as we would be treated ourselves. My son and I rescued you from the sea, delivered you to safety. Our humble best you shared, yet we receive insults in return. If our home is a hovel, our weave too course, our food tempts you not, royal princess, bestow the honor of your presence on someone else.

[last lines]
Narrator: Atlantis is gone. But free men, *wiser* men, carried the culture from the mother empire to the four corners of the earth.

Petros, Demetrios' Father: Our fare is simple. Come. Break bread with us and tell us your story.
Princess Antillia: Your food tempts me not.
Petros, Demetrios' Father: As you wish, my little mermaid.

Princess Antillia: Your trusted Zaren has lied to us. He has put the man who saved my life in chains. I want him punished.
King Kronas: But it was I who gave the order to enslave the Greek.
Princess Antillia: You?
Zaren: His majesty had no alternative.
Princess Antillia: By what right do you speak for your king? What does he mean?
King Kronas: The law.
Zaren: The law compels us to enslave foreigners. And you, my princess, raised in the shadow of the throne, must certainly respect the law.

Princess Antillia: Where is this miserable hovel, and why do I wear the garb of slaves?

Princess Antillia: You may help me now.
Petros, Demetrios' Father: You may help yourself. Come, Demetrios. There are fish to be caught.

King Kronas: I wish I could help, my child. I wish...
Zaren: The law must be obeyed.
Princess Antillia: Again you presume to speak for your king. One would think you wear his crown!
[the king remains silent]
Princess Antillia: Indeed, you do.

Princess Antillia: What troubles you, Azor?
Azor the High Priest: The doves, look at them. In the past, they always circled the Colosseum and then returned to their cages. Now the whole flock is winging out toward the open sea.

Sonoy the Astrologer: I would never trust this Greek. He lies with every breath.
Zaren: Dwell with your stars, Sonoy, and let matters of importance rest in my hands. I trust men who put wealth above honor.

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