truth, brethren, whether it please or whether
it displease.

OZIAS (_to_ Achior). Make an end.

ACHIOR. And I said to Holofernes: But now this people are returned to
their God, and have possessed Jerusalem, and are seated in the hill
country. (_With more emphasis_.) And I said further to Holofernes: Now
therefore, my lord and governor, if there be any error in this people,
let us go up and we shall overcome them. But if there be no iniquity in
their nation, let my lord now pass by, lest their Lord defend them and
we become a reproach before all the world.

JUDITH. It was well said.

OZIAS. Lady, it was well said--if the slave said it. (_To_ Achior.) I
demanded of you: How came you _here_?

ACHIOR. Thus. When I had finished speaking to Holofernes, all they that
were about my lord and governor rose up in wrath and cried: Kill him.
And the face of Holofernes darkened, and he said: And who art thou,
Achior, that thou hast prophesied among us to-day that we should not
make war with the people of Israel because of their God? And who is God
but Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar by my hand will destroy the
Israelites, and their God shall not deliver them. Their mountains shall
be drunken with their blood and their fields shall be filled with their
dead bodies. (_The_ citizens _show alarm_.) And thou, Achior, shalt be
delivered up to the Israelites in Bethulia, and when thou seest me again
thou shalt fall among the slain.... And he commanded his servants, and
they took me, and carried me secretly to the foot of the hill of
Bethulia. And here am I!

OZIAS (_after a pause, positively_). It is a wicked device for our
undoing.

JUDITH. How so?

OZIAS. Plainly this fellow lies, and he has come subtly with a tale to
spy out our strength. Presently he will seek to escape from us again to
the Assyrians.

VOICES. Spy! Stone him! Rend him!

ACHIOR (_to_ Ozias). To Holofernes, my lord and governor, I spoke truth;
and to you also I speak truth. Never has my mouth lied, nor my tongue
uttered deceit. If death is ordained for my recompense, so be it.

JUDITH (_to_ Ozias). He is a fair youth, and has spoken truly and feared
not.

OZIAS (_with meaning_). Lady, he is a fair youth, and fearless. But by
what sign know you that he has spoken truly?

JUDITH. By the glance of his eyes I know.

OZIAS. It is a sign that suffices not. Shall it be said that Ozias was
deceived, and shall Ozias imperil his renown, by reason of the glance of