) And surely Bethulia has more
wells than any other city of Judea.
OZIAS. The wells are at the foot of the hills, and Holofernes has
seized them all.
CHABRIS. That is not fighting.
OZIAS. It is war.
CHABRIS. No, no! In my time soldiers fought fairly.
OZIAS. And killed each other. Why should Holofernes sacrifice thousands
of lives to take the heights when he can reach the same result by
letting his men sit still and watch?
CHABRIS. I say this is not war. Once I travelled many days to Nineveh.
It is a city of extravagance, and when I beheld its mad, new-fangled
ways, I knew that the last day was nigh. I was right. Three thousand and
five hundred years since Jehovah created Adam, and Eve from his rib ...
Too long! Too long! And what is pulse without water? I must have water.
OZIAS. It is thirty-four days since Holofernes took the wells. If you
have received water up to yesterday your great-grandchild must indeed
have thirsted that you might drink. I have distributed water by measure,
but now the cisterns are empty, and women and young men fall down in the
streets, and there is no water in Bethulia. We are all in like case, the
high and the lowly.
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