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?