Judith, a play in three acts | Page 4

bar the
street?

FIRST SOLDIER. My lord, some of these are elders of high authority,
and would pass. As for the girl----
RAHEL (to Chabris). This moment! (She faints and falls.)
CHABRIS (_indifferently, as_ Charmis moves towards Rahel). Let her
lie. She will come to of herself--or not, as God wills.
OZIAS (_to the soldiers, with cold fierceness_). Get back to your
places. (Exeunt soldiers.)
CHARMIS (looking at Ozias and indicating Rahel). She is the
fourteenth I have seen faint from thirst in the streets this day.
OZIAS (_soothingly_). Alas! And you or I may be the next. We are all
in like case. But what is to be done?
(_Confused feeble exclamations from the group of citizens:_ 'We want
to know. We are come for that. There is but one thing to be done.')
OZIAS (_still soothingly_). Who among you will be the spokesman?
CHARMIS. We are all spokesmen.
OZIAS. Even the children?
CHARMIS. Even the children. In our extremity we are all spokesmen.
OZIAS. But not all at once. Will you begin, honourable Charmis? You
know that I am the servant of the citizens.
CHARMIS (_nervously oratorical_). Lord Ozias, may the God of Israel
judge between us and you, for you have done us a great injury. (_Looks
round for approval. The group approves._)
OZIAS. An injury? I? Have I not said that I am the servant of the
citizens?
CHARMIS (_more confidently_). And I say again that you have done

us a great injury, in that you have not asked peace of the Assyrians. For
we have no helper, and the God of Israel has sold us into the hands of
the Assyrians. We are thrown down before them with thirst and with
great destruction. Therefore now we demand--(_looks round_)--I say
we demand that you call the Assyrians, and deliver the whole city for a
spoil to the people of Holofernes and to all his army. For it is better for
us to be made a spoil than to die of thirst. We will be the slaves of
Holofernes, so that our souls may live and so that we may not see the
death of our infants before our eyes, nor our wives nor our children die.
(_A mother in the group convulsively seizes her child. Pause_. Ozias
walks about.) We take to witness against you the heaven and the earth
and our God and the God of our fathers, which punishes us according
to our sins and the sins of our fathers; and we demand of you that you
deliver up the city to Holofernes and his host. (A silence.)
(Ozias _ascends solemnly to the vantage-point._)
OZIAS (_dominating the assembly_). Friends, it would seem that
Charmis has made an end. His words are excellent and full of pity.
Who follows him? Who will speak next? My ear waits. (A silence.) Ah!
Then give heed. The words of Charmis are full of pity, but I also have
pity. Do not I too cherish our women, and our maidens and our young
children? And because I pity I would not yield to the monster
Holofernes. Yes, the monster! This is not war that he wages. Once our
enemy strove fairly with the warriors of Israel. Now he makes our
women and children to die of thirst. The magnificence of war is gone
from the earth, and Holofernes by the excess of his hosts has rendered
war ridiculous. (Chabris raises his hands.) The peoples of the earth will
perceive that henceforward the institution of war cannot continue, and
after this there will be no more war. But meanwhile, if I go crouching
to the feet of Holofernes, what will happen and what will come to pass?
Surely it will come to pass that the monster who has sat down to watch
us die of thirst will slay our little children and our old men, and
dishonour our women, and ravish our innocent virgins; for the
enslaving of the conquered will not content his anger nor satisfy the
lust of his great hosts. Shall these things be? I say they shall not be. But
what am I, save the servant of the citizens of Bethulia? And what do I

speak, save the thought that is in your hearts? There is no cowardice in
you. You are not sheep, nor rabbits, nor beetles, nor lice. You are
valiant men, and women lion-hearted. Without you I am naught, and if
I defy Holofernes, my fortitude is yours and my resolve springs from
you. Charmis has invoked the holy name of the God of Israel. Let Israel
not forget its God, for never has the Most High forsaken Israel.
Brethren, be of good courage. Let us yet endure five days. Five short
days. And if these days pass and the God of Israel turn not his