Another.
And now come down braving in God's own land,
Pitching the glory of his fearful heaven
All night among God's hills.
Judith.
You fools, he is
A life our God could snap as a woman snaps
Thread of her sewing.
A Citizen. Who shall break him off, Who on the earth, from his huge twisted power?
Another.
For in his brain, as in a burning-glass
Wide glow of sun drawn to a pin of fire,
Are gathered into incredible fierceness all
The rays of the dark heat of heathen strength.
Another. His eyes, they say, can kill a man.
Another. And sure No murder could approach his naming nights.
Another.
Unless it came as a woman at whose beauty
His lust hath never sipt; for into his flesh
To drink unknown desirable limbs as wine
Torments him still, like a thirst when fever pours
A man's life out in drenching sweats.
Judith.
Peace, peace;
The siege hath given you shameless tongues, and minds
No more your own: yea, the foul Ninevite
Hath mastered you already, for your thoughts
Dwell in his wickedness and marvel at it.
Hate not a thing too much, lest you be drawn
Wry from yourselves and close to the thing ye hate.
A Citizen.
We know thy wisdom, Judith; but our lives
Belong to death; and wisdom to a man
Dying, is water in a broken jar.
Judith. Yea, if thou wilt die of a parching mouth.