SCENE I
SCENE: Same as Act I.
TIME: A few hours later than Act II, Scene III, the same night. The sole light is that of torches, and watchfires (off).
The gatemen are at the gates.
There is a knocking on the outside of the gates.
Enter First Soldier, running.
FIRST SOLDIER (to a gateman, who is climbing up in order to look over the top of the gates). Look not over, booby. Thy fool's face might meet the point of an Assyrian spear. (The gateman slips down quickly.)
(Renewed knocking.)
FIRST SOLDIER (shouting). None can enter the city till sunrise. And not then if I like not the aspect of his phiz.
HAGGITH (off). It is Haggith, servant of the lady Judith. Open the gates quickly, for I am become a woman of much consequence.
FIRST SOLDIER. Haggith? It is the voice of Haggith; yet it may also be devils. (To another soldier who has entered.) Run! Rouse the lord Ozias. (Exit soldier.)
HAGGITH. I have water with me. Many gourds! Fresh water! Cool water!
(The gatemen begin to work the gate-chains.)
FIRST SOLDIER. What do ye, dogs? Stop, and await the order of the lord Ozias.
GATEMEN (continuing to work the chains). Water! Water!
FIRST SOLDIER. Pull, then, dogs. If there is water and it is wet I will taste it. But if there is not water, I will slay the first soul that enters. (As the gates begin to open a little.) Hold! No wider!
Enter Haggith with two gourds.
(The gourds are snatched from her, and the men, including the First Soldier, drink.)
FIRST SOLDIER (as he drinks). Yea, it is indeed Haggith. Where is thy mistress, and whence comest thou, my beloved water-carrier, for thou art my beloved? (Haggith slaps his face.)
Enter Ozias, L.
OZIAS (furious). Why are the gates opened? What is this?
FIRST SOLDIER. Haggith, lord, with water that is stronger than wine. (Handing a gourd to Ozias to soothe him.)
OZIAS. Where is thy mistress, wench? (Drinks.)
HAGGITH (stiffly). I am the forerunner of my mistress, who has sent me, and before many hours are passed the lady Judith will come also. (She goes to the gates and beckons.)
OZIAS. What art thou doing?
Enter Ingur, bearing a sack.
VOICES. An Assyrian! An Assyrian! (Men spring at Ingur.)
HAGGITH. Let him alone; he is my bondman and I have tamed him.
OZIAS. Shut the gates, for I will enquire into this matter.
HAGGITH. There are yet ten other Assyrians outside the gates, carrying gourds for me.
OZIAS. Ten other Assyrians! It is a trick!
HAGGITH (proudly). By my command they are chained by their necks, neck to neck. Fetch in the gourds, men, and give the people to drink.
(The gourds are brought in amid cries and excitement. They are taken off, L.)
OZIAS. Shut the gates, I say.
FIRST SOLDIER. And the ten Assyrians, great lord?
OZIAS. Let them await my enquiry where they stand.
FIRST SOLDIER. Lord Ozias, if they flee?
HAGGITH. Hold thy mouth, gaby! Wouldst thou flee with thy neck chained to nine necks? Moreover, where will they flee? For the camps of the Assyrians are broken, and in their terrible confusion the Assyrians fall one upon another.
(The gatemen talk among themselves and stare at the Assyrians outside, who cannot be seen by those within the city. The gates remain open a little.)
OZIAS (impatiently). What is thy tale, Haggith?
HAGGITH. My mistress has slain Holofernes in his tent in the night, and the power of Assyria is undone.
OZIAS (astounded). Slain Holofernes! Thou art mad in thy raving.
HAGGITH (to Ingur). Open the mouth of the sack, and let my lord behold the head of Holofernes and see that I am mad. (To soldier.) A torch, that the Lord Ozias may discover the manner of my raving.
(Ozias looks into the sack and sees the head of Holofernes.)
OZIAS. Great is the Lord of Israel!
HAGGITH. And my mistress is the right hand of the Lord.
OZIAS. Great is the Lord of Israel!
VOICES (deeply moved). His name shall live for ever.
OZIAS. How did thy mistress accomplish this mighty deed?
HAGGITH. AS for that, she will tell it to my lord with her own voice when she shall come. And now will my lord give ear to the commands of the lady Judith, which she doth lay upon my lord by me, Haggith? First, the head of Holofernes shall be set upon a spear on the highest wall in the great square before the temple. So shall all the Israelites know that God yet watcheth over Israel. (To the soldiers.) Take the sack and do as my lady hath ordained by me, Haggith.
OZIAS (to men, who hesitate). Take the sack. It is my command.
(Exeunt two men, L., with sack.)
HAGGITH. Next, ye shall send men for water to the wells beneath the city that all may drink, for already the Assyrians are fled from the wells, knowing that Holofernes is dead. And ye shall send forth all your army into the valley to fall upon the Assyrians, for they are afraid of the judgment of God, and none dare abide in the sight of his neighbour. Neither can they stand against the chosen race of God.
OZIAS (to First Soldier). Let every armed man in the city be roused, and publish the order of Ozias that the Captains lead their bands swiftly into the valley by the secret way to fall upon the Assyrians.
(Exit First Soldier and another, with joyous cries, L.)
HAGGITH. Thus hath the lady Judith spoken by me, Haggith.
OZIAS. Whither is thy mistress gone, and why does she tarry?
HAGGITH. My mistress is hidden in a sure place in the valley, for there is one among the Assyrians who fears not God. And he is Bagoas, the chief eunuch of Holofernes, and he has sworn an oath to kill my mistress, for that by guile she did cut off the head of Holofernes. And Bagoas searches for my mistress in the folds of the valley. But he will not find her.
OZIAS (perturbed). How knowst thou that he will not find her?
HAGGITH. Because the Lord of Israel is a sharp sword and protecteth his servants.... And also because my mistress is most cunningly hidden.
Enter Charmis, L.
CHARMIS (joyously excited). What is the miracle that I hear, Ozias?
OZIAS (blandly). There is no miracle; but that which I had planned with the lady Judith has come to pass. Take women and old men Charmis, and go ye to the wells and bring water to the city, for the wells are delivered into my hands.
CHARMIS (hesitating). Women and old men? But the onslaught against the Assyrians of which I hear?
OZIAS (imperiously). Go quickly. For who is the governor of this city? Is it thou or is it I?
(Exit Charmis, L.)
(Men and women have gathered joyously in the street.)
VOICES (mockingly, indicating Ingur, with a tendency to horseplay). The Assyrian! The Assyrian!
OZIAS. Take him to the guard-house and chain him to Achior.
HAGGITH. He shall not go, lord Ozias. For as my mistress beguiled Holofernes, so did I beguile Ingur, and he is my slave. But I have not cut off his head, and he is dear to me because I have not cut off his head. And he is mine, and let none touch him (looking at the soldiers), or my anger, which is the anger of the lady Judith, shall be upon that man. (Hearing a noise, she glances at the house.) What do I see? The sluts are in the tent of my mistress, which is forbidden them. Out, sluts! (Exit angrily into the house!)
(Ingur follows her quickly for protection.)
Enter Messenger.
OZIAS. And you?
MESSENGER (saluting). Do my eyes behold the great lord Ozias, governor of Bethulia?
OZIAS. Your eyes behold him.
MESSENGER. It is not yet dawn, nevertheless the streets of the city are full of a great going and coming, but I found none to lead me to the house of the lord Ozias. Yet when I saw my lord's visage my heart said: 'This is he.'
OZIAS. What is your affair with me?
MESSENGER. I am a messenger.
OZIAS (curtly). Speak quickly, for the government of this city in this hour is no common matter, and the whole charge of it lies upon me.
MESSENGER. And I am no common messenger. I come with wings through the night from Jerusalem, from Joachim, the high priest.
OZIAS. Ah! (Changing his tone and beckoning the messenger aside.) What tidings do you bear?
MESSENGER. I bear the licence from Joachim.
OZIAS. What licence?
MESSENGER. The licence for the people of Bethulia to drink the wine which is sanctified and reserved to the priests which serve the Lord.
OZIAS (affecting to be puzzled). Who hath demanded this licence from Joachim?
MESSENGER (surprised). The lord Ozias sent a messenger to Jerusalem to beseech that the licence should be granted. And my lord's messenger travelled so swiftly that in the moment when he reached the temple at Jerusalem he fell sick and vomited, and I have come to Bethulia in his place, for after he had vomited he unfolded to me the secret way into the city.
OZIAS (grandly). It is true. In the heavy multitude of my cares I had forgotten this matter of the licence.
MESSENGER (confidentially). And Joachim hath bidden me to say privily that if any have already in their extremity drunk of the sanctified wine it shall be denied utterly—for the sake of the church.
OZIAS. Ah!
MESSENGER. And here is the licence. (Offering it.)
OZIAS. Friend, keep the licence and render it back to Joachim, the high priest in Jerusalem. For I need it not, and I demanded it only by excess of prudence such as becomes the governor of a city besieged and thirsting. But we Bethulians are a faithful and a constant people, and we have trusted in the Most High. And if perchance any have drunk of the sanctified wine unknown to me (with a grimace)—it shall be denied utterly, for the sake of seemliness.
MESSENGER. But in the days of trial to come, will not the lord Ozias have need of the licence?
OZIAS (grandly). Friend, return ye to Joachim and say to him that the Lord has delivered Bethulia from the Assyrians by the subtlety of his servant Ozias.
MESSENGER (amazed). What says my lord?
OZIAS. Yea, this night the head of Holofernes is set on a spear in the square before the temple, and the Assyrians flee one from another in disorder, and my hosts are about to descend upon them and rend them to pieces where they stand foolishly in the valley.
MESSENGER. But this thing is marvellous beyond the understanding of man!
OZIAS. It is indeed marvellous.
MESSENGER. And when Joachim enquires of me who hath taken Holofernes the great captain to behead him, and by what device, what shall I answer to Joachim?
OZIAS. You will answer that Ozias, knowing the weakness of Holofernes, sent down to him secretly a woman, a certain Judith of Bethulia, and upon the counsel of Ozias the woman by wiles compassed the death of Holofernes as I have told you.
MESSENGER. It is a tale which fathers shall tell to their children, and to their children's children, and men shall wonder thereat for all time. And now your servant will say to you a thing which has not been told to him but which his ear has heard. It was said among the mighty that if my lord Ozias should save Judea from the heathen, he would receive notable advancement and be raised up among the great ones of the land. (Ozias bows.) Yet will Joachim not be astonished, for it was spoken in Jerusalem that among all the Israelites there is none like the lord Ozias for cunning and obstinacy in defence.
OZIAS (nettled). Nevertheless it is meet that Joachim should be astonished, for with five thousand have I set at naught one hundred and two and thirty thousand, and in the chronicles of Israel there is written down no deed to match the delivery of Judea from the Assyrians.
MESSENGER. The God of Israel hath saved Israel.
OZIAS. The God of Israel hath save Israel,—by my hand. Go ye, and when you have eaten and drunk, set ye forth again for Jerusalem.
(The Messenger salutes and exit, L.)
(Throughout this scene excited and joyous men and women frequently pass the street in twos and threes.)
(Dawn is breaking and the torches begin to pale.)
Enter Haggith and Ingur from the house.
OZIAS. Where art thou going?
HAGGITH. Lord Ozias, I came up from the valley to bring water, and to give tidings. Now I go down again to the valley with Ingur and his men to seek out my mistress, and to take new raiment to her, and lead her to the city; for since the Israelites are fallen upon the Assyrians, my mistress is no longer in danger.
Enter Achior.
OZIAS. Slave, who hath dared to loose thee?
ACHIOR. There was none left to guard, and I came forth.
OZIAS (to a soldier). Seize this fellow and bind him with fetters.
(The torches are by this time extinguished.)
HAGGITH. Lord, it cannot be so. For the lady Judith commanded me to bring Achior also, for her protection, seeing that the youth came from the Assyrians at the bidding of the God of Israel to give comfort to Israel, and for a sign to my mistress.
OZIAS (after a pause). I also will go with you, for it is right that the governor should do honour to the lady Judith.
HAGGITH. My mistress commanded me to say to the lord Ozias that he should remain in the city to prepare for her a welcome. (She points to the gates and Achior gladly moves forward. She takes Ingur by the ear.) Bestir thy legs, booby!
OZIAS. The subtlety of women is past knowing.
HAGGITH (at the gates, maliciously). It may be. But would the lord Ozias invite the displeasure of my mistress? It is day. Let my lord sit in the sun.
CURTAIN.
[SCENE II]
SCENE: The same.
Charmis is alone at the open gates. Glimpses are caught of the people beyond the gates.
TIME: Afternoon of the same day.
CHABRIS (entering to Charmis, at the gates). They say there is now much water in Bethulia.
CHARMIS. Seeing that I have toiled mightily seven hours this day in charge of six score crazy carriers to carry water up from the wells! Would that Ozias had granted me a whip to sharpen their brains! And now Ozias hath left me in charge of the gates.
CHABRIS. Where is Ozias, and what does he do?
CHARMIS. He stands here beyond the gates to receive Judith and the women who have gone forth to meet her.
CHABRIS. What is the deed of Judith? (The noise of an approaching procession is heard. Charmis, ignoring Chabris, goes a little outside the gates to watch. Chabris continues in a louder voice.) The streets of the city are empty. I say the streets of the city are empty.
CHARMIS. Dodderer! The whole city is afoot on the hill-side, and all the Assyrians left alive are fled in panic into the East.
CHABRIS. Then I will return to my house and drink again. No! I will remain, and my eyes shall regard the women, as of old.
Enter through the gates a procession of women (including Rahel), waving branches. At the end of the procession come Haggith and Ingur, and finally Judith, with Achior on one hand, and Ozias on the other. Townspeople and soldiers, garlanded, follow the procession.
BALLET.
OZIAS (to Judith). O daughter, blessed be thou above all the women of the earth. Thou art the exaltation of Jerusalem and the great glory of Israel, for the Lord hath directed thee to the cutting off of the head of the chief of our enemies, and thou hast revenged our ruin.
VOICES. So be it.
JUDITH. Holofernes came out of the mountains from the north, and his horsemen covered the hills; and he bragged that he would burn up the borders of Israel, and kill her young men with the sword, and make the virgins as a spoil. But the Almighty Lord hath disappointed the Assyrians by the hand of a woman; and my sandals ravished the eye of Holofernes, and my beauty took his mind prisoner, and the knife passed through his neck. Let all creatures serve the Lord!
VOICES. So be it!
OZIAS. Charmis, I appoint you to lead the people to the Temple, where are the banners of the Assyrians which we have captured this day, and each woman shall take a banner, and all shall return to this place before the house of the Lady Judith.
CHARMIS (swollen with pride). I obey, lord Ozias.
(The procession begins to move away, L. Haggith displays her importance and bullies Ingur, who accompanies her.)
RAHEL (to Chabris). What, grandad! You are abroad once more! (She takes him with her like a disobedient child.)
(Exeunt, processionally, all except Judith, Ozias and Achior.)
OZIAS (to Achior). Thou goest not with the people?
JUDITH (to Achior). Stay, I pray you, Achior.
OZIAS (to Judith, with growing excitement). I wish to speak privily with the lady Judith, now!
JUDITH. Let us speak here.
OZIAS. Shall we not go into your house, you and I?
JUDITH. My house is not ready to receive you, Ozias.
OZIAS. Let it be so. But before Achior I will not speak.
JUDITH. Achior, go into my house, and do honour to my dwelling, and repose in it.
ACHIOR. Gladly, O lady! (Exit into the house.)
JUDITH. What is the urgency that oppresses you, Ozias, and why are you troubled in the hour of triumph?
OZIAS (losing control of himself). Who is the heathen Achior that you should prefer him and make your mouth sweet to him?
JUDITH. Leave Achior, and let us come at once to the matter that presses.
OZIAS. Oh! I will not speak smoothly for a pretence! Thou knowest that my jealousy smokes against Achior. Yea, and against Holofernes also.
JUDITH. But Holofernes is dead.
OZIAS. Before he went down to his place, didst thou not sin with him?
JUDITH. As the Lord liveth, my countenance deceived him to his destruction, yet did he not shame me.
OZIAS. Blessed be our God!
JUDITH. But how does this matter touch thee, and what is my virtue in thy regard?
OZIAS. Let Holofernes suffice thee, and drive not me also to death with the softness of thy voice. Art thou not aware that the soul of my soul burns for thee and will not wait—the more so since thou hast done a mighty deed and art proved a woman beyond all women?
JUDITH. Nay! I have done naught; but the Lord hath saved Israel by thy hand.
OZIAS. What is this humbleness?
JUDITH. AS I came towards the city with Achior, the messenger from Jerusalem met us in the way, and he was full to bursting of the word of Ozias, and that Ozias had delivered Israel, and that what I did I did by thy device and at thy command. But the messenger in speaking knew not that he spoke to Judith, and I let him go.
OZIAS. Judith——
JUDITH. Yet it seems to me that thou wast ignorant of all that which I went out to do, and my plan was hidden from thee.
OZIAS (powerfully persuasive). Hearken to me, Judith. I swear it was for thee that I boasted. My aim was that thy mighty deed should gain preferment in Jerusalem. But thou art a woman and therefore preferment is not for thee. Yet now by reason of my boasting I shall be greatly advanced and lifted up, and in all Judea there will be none higher than me, and thus wilt thou also be advanced and lifted up.
JUDITH. I desire no preferment.
OZIAS. But I would have it in thy behalf; and my appetite is double. I rage for glory and dominion, and I rage also for thee. And I will offer thee glory and dominion, for I seek these things as a gift to thy beauty. And if I cannot lay them on thy lap my heel shall spurn mankind and I will tread it to dust. My desires are terrible; they will not be withstood; they consume me daily, but daily I am renewed. I am on fire, but by the fierceness of the fire I am strengthened. I was conceived for greatness and my mother bore me for mastery, and the huge earth shall shake with the terror of my commands.... And I am held between thy fingers.
JUDITH. I deny not thy greatness.
OZIAS. Surely thou canst not. For thou too art great. And my greatness yearns to thine.
JUDITH. Wilt thou listen?
OZIAS. I hear.
JUDITH. With this greatness of thine goes deceit and laxity of mind.
OZIAS. Yet when thou didst thy mighty deed didst thou not deceive cruelly?
JUDITH. I deceived not for myself, but for Israel; and my guile was for the glory of God. But thy heart is set only upon advancement and power, which is corruption.
OZIAS. Judith, canst thou not lift thy thoughts beyond good and evil, and canst thou not contemplate the marvellous greatness of man? I will abase myself before none but thee, and in my ear there is no commandment but thine; and all other decrees will I mock. I would have thee in marriage, and I would have no other but thee. Wilt thou take me to thee, and wilt thou yield thyself without fear to the terrible flame of my love? For thus shalt thou fulfil thyself and me. But give heed before thou answerest, and know that if thou turnest from me, I will make all the nations of the earth to tremble with my fury.
JUDITH. Thou art great also in thy loving.
OZIAS. Once thou didst love me.
JUDITH. Nay! I but looked upon thee in kindness. But now I will not go to thee in marriage.
OZIAS (half admiring). Thou art not then afraid of my wrath!
JUDITH. I am Judith.
OZIAS (with a fresh access of violence). Thou hungerest for Achior. Wouldst thou marry a heathen, thou a Hebrew woman?
JUDITH. And thou, if I had not accomplished the will of the Lord, and if thou hadst been carried to Babylon as thou saidst, wouldst thou not have denied the Most High and gone after other gods? But Achior believeth in our God, and this day will be joined into the house of Israel.
OZIAS (savagely scornful). What is Achior but a simpleton!
JUDITH. It may be. But I love him and he shall rule me ... for he came hither for a sign from the Lord.
OZIAS (savagely resentful). Oh! If I did not love thee, would I not undo thee!
JUDITH. Thou! Thou art Ozias, but I am she who cut off the head of a mightier than thou, even Holofernes in his tent. Go thy ways and fulfil greatness. As for me I will remain obediently in my house, and truth and righteousness shall reign in my house.
(The procession returns, the women bearing the banners of the Assyrians. Achior enters from the house.)
(Judith is crowned with olives.)
JUDITH. And now let the priests and the elders enter with me into my house, and Achior shall follow them, so that he may be received into Israel, and I will be betrothed to him with all the ceremonies of the law, for he came to me as a messenger from God. And when the marriage has been performed, I will submit myself to him as a wife to her husband.
HAGGITH. And let Ingur also be received into Israel, for he has repented of his idolatries. And he shall be my husband, yet shall he not rule me.
OZIAS. Brethren, hearken! This night I go to Jerusalem, for I am called to higher things, because I have delivered Israel. And I shall not return to this little city; but ye will have tidings of me in the years to come, and ye will say proudly to the strangers within your gates: He was a Bethulian and once he ruled over us.
JUDITH. The lord Ozias is called to greatness. Peace go with him.
ALL. So be it.
CURTAIN.