And when Joachim enquires of me who hath taken Holofernes the
great captain to behead him, and by what device, what shall I answer to
Joachim?
OZIAS. You will answer that Ozias, knowing the weakness of Holofernes,
sent down to him secretly a woman, a certain Judith of Bethulia, and
upon the counsel of Ozias the woman by wiles compassed the death of
Holofernes as I have told you.
MESSENGER. It is a tale which fathers shall tell to their children, and
to their children's children, and men shall wonder thereat for all time.
And now your servant will say to you a thing which has not been told to
him but which his ear has heard. It was said among the mighty that if my
lord Ozias should save Judea from the heathen, he would receive notable
advancement and be raised up among the great ones of the land. (Ozias
_bows_.) Yet will Joachim not be astonished, for it was spoken in
Jerusalem that among all the Israelites there is none like the lord
Ozias for cunning and obstinacy in defence.
OZIAS (_nettled_). Nevertheless it is meet that Joachim should be
astonished, for with five thousand have I set at naught one hundred and
two and thirty thousand, and in the chronicles of Israel there is
written down no deed to match the delivery of Judea from the Assyrians.
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