And
lo! I meet the governor of this city, and he is Ozias! Ozias! Seven days
do men mourn for him that is dead, but for an ungodly man all the days
of his life! Why is there no water in Bethulia, sprig?
OZIAS. Old man, meditation is good and solitude is good, but think not
because you sit staring all day at your own belly that the sun and stars
have ceased to revolve round the earth and the kings of this world to
make war. Is it possible that you do not know what has happened?
CHABRIS. I only know that I cannot eat pulse without water to drink.
OZIAS. Bethulia is besieged.
CHABRIS. Who is besieging Bethulia?
OZIAS. Holofernes.
CHABRIS. I have never heard his name. Who is he?
OZIAS. Never heard the name of the chief captain of Nebuchadnezzar? Have
you heard the name of Nebuchadnezzar, by chance?
CHABRIS. I seem to remember it.
OZIAS. Come up here. (_They go up the steps to the vantage-point_.)
Look! A hundred and twenty thousand foot-soldiers. Twelve thousand
archers on horseback. Oxen and sheep for their provisions. Twenty
thousand asses for their carriages. Camels without number. Infinite
victuals; and very much gold and silver.
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