Judith, a play in three acts | Page 8

eyes. So much you have avowed.
OZIAS (_in a new tone_). It is true. This day I hold the people lightly. But when the great madness and desperation of thirst comes at last upon them, who shall hold them? In that day they will seize the things forbidden, and they will drink the wine sanctified and reserved for the priests that serve the Lord. And to avert from me the wrath of Joachim, the high priest of Jerusalem, I have sent already a messenger to Jerusalem to bring a licence that this matter may be lawful.
JUDITH (_shocked_). Nay!
OZIAS. I say it will be so.
JUDITH. It shall not be so.
OZIAS. Then pray you to the Most High for the city, even for all of us, and the Lord will send rain for our cisterns and we shall faint no more. Pray, for you are a godly woman, and the God of Israel shall listen.
JUDITH (_with supreme impressiveness_). Hear me again, Ozias. This night I will do a thing which shall go throughout all the generations to the children of Israel. You shall stand this night in the gate of the city, and I will go forth from the city with my waiting-woman; and within the days that you have promised to deliver the city to our enemies the Lord will visit Israel by my hand.
OZIAS. On what errand will you go?
JUDITH. Enquire not of my act, for I will not declare it until the things are finished that I do. But this I declare, that the Lord has inclined himself to me, and now he has sent Achior for a sign.
OZIAS. You go to Holofernes!
JUDITH. To Holofernes.
OZIAS. Do not go!
JUDITH. But why shall I not go?
OZIAS. The perils of the heathen will surround you, and harm will surely befall you, for Holofernes will work lamentable evil upon you. And I cannot suffer it.
JUDITH (_smiling_). Did not Ozias say that Holofernes was a great warrior and had compassion in his greatness?
OZIAS (_insistent_). I cannot suffer it, for if any shame come upon you I will not live.
JUDITH. God will not see his handmaid shamed. Moreover I regard not myself in this thing, but the welfare of the people of Israel.
OZIAS (_kneeling_). Judith, I entreat you! For you are the light of my eyes, and without you the world is not.
JUDITH (_softly_). I know it. Think you that in these years I have not seen the depths of your heart, Ozias? Think you that I was blind in my tent? Think you that I watched not upon you? You were comely in my sight. But this day you have revealed your pride. For you seek not God, but the vanity of the earth, and you would make all Israel the instrument of your glory, denying the Lord. And I am sad.
OZIAS. Forgive me, Rose of Sharon.
JUDITH (_softly_). Who am I, to forgive my brother? Peace be upon you! (She turns towards her house.)
OZIAS (_rising,_). Stay!
JUDITH. I go to prepare myself for that which I have to do. (Exit into the house.)
(_A soldier shows himself, back._)
OZIAS. Friend!
FIRST SOLDIER (_approaching and saluting_). Lord! Your command!
OZIAS. Send to me the officer of the watch.
FIRST SOLDIER. Lord, the honourable lieutenant lies sick.
(Haggith appears at the door of the house.)
OZIAS. Thirst has overcome him?
FIRST SOLDIER (_bowing_). He raves on the bed, lord, and his tongue is like the tongue of a dog.
OZIAS. Who then commands the watch by the watchfires this night?
FIRST SOLDIER. I, lord. The watchfires wait the torch.
OZIAS. Will you, too, faint, and will your tongue be like the tongue of a dog?
FIRST SOLDIER (_grimly_), Not mine, lord.
OZIAS. DO the people complain?
FIRST SOLDIER. Lord, they whine and snivel mightily.
Enter Haggith _with a small sack._
OZIAS. Is the secret way shut?
FIRST SOLDIER. Shut and barred, lord.
OZIAS. It must be opened.... Stand! I will see to it.
FIRST SOLDIER. AS my lord wills.
OZIAS. Has the watch aught to drink?
FIRST SOLDIER. My lord knows that no drop is left in the gourds.
(Ozias _waves him away, and he retires_.)
OZIAS (to Haggith, _who is busy with the sack_). Woman, has the lady Judith perchance dreamed a dream?
HAGGITH (_enigmatically_). My mistress has dreamed no dream. Why does the lord Ozias ask?
OZIAS. It seemed to me--(_stops_)
HAGGITH. Dreams lift up fools. (Exit into the house.) (_Exit Ozias, L_.)
(_The soldier strolls forward. Twilight begins to fall_.)
(Enter Haggith from the house with more baggage.)
HAGGITH (_to the soldier; curtly; not looking at him_). So thou hast no water?
FIRST SOLDIER (_with genial freedom_). Yea, Haggith, we have still a little.
HAGGITH. Then thou has lied to the governor?
FIRST SOLDIER. _Him_? (With a jerk of the shoulder!) He knows! In truth now, thinkest thou he would expect us soldiers to keep guard without water? He knows! But he is a great lord, and in seemliness he asks for a lie, and that which