f Bethulia to find water for thy
thirst?

JUDITH. To find water, and to have speech with the most illustrious
Prince.

HOLOFERNES. Woman (_approaching her a step, and then standing still_),
be of good comfort, and fear not in thy heart, for I never hurt any that
was willing to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the god of all the earth. And if
thy people that dwell in the mountains had not held me lightly, I would
not have lifted up my spear against them, but they have done these
things to themselves.

BAGOAS (_aside, to_ Holofernes). Terrible master, she is full of guile
and deceitfulness, and came not at all for water, but for a hidden
purpose against you. Therefore enquire of her closely.

HOLOFERNES (_to_ Bagoas). Chastise thy tongue, ere it overthrow thee,
fiend. There is no guile in that face. (_To_ Judith.) Tell me now thy
message and wherefore in truth thou art come. And tremble not, for thou
shalt live this night.

JUDITH. Great prince, receive the words of your servant and suffer your
handmaid to speak in your presence, and I will declare no lie to my
lord.

HOLOFERNES. Speak.

JUDITH. I will speak to my lord alone.

BAGOAS (_aside to_ Holofernes). It is a device against my lord.

HOLOFERNES (_to_ Judith). Speak now, I command thee.

JUDITH. My message concerns the fate of Bethulia, and of all the
Assyrians, and of my lord. Life and death are in it, for I have communed
with heaven.

HOLOFERNES. Which heaven? Thine or mine?

JUDITH. There is but one God.

HOLOFERNES (_roughly_). And he is Nebuchadnezzar. Speak thy tale.

JUDITH. I will speak to my lord alone.

BAGOAS (_aside to_ Holofernes). It is a device.

HOLOFERNES (_angrily_). Speak out all thy heart, and quickly!

JUDITH. I will speak to my lord in my lord's tent.

HOLOFERNES (_furious_). In my tent! Who art thou who defiest me, and
what is thy licence, heathen slave, to defile the tent of Holofernes?
Bind her. Take her away, and twist the cords about her neck, and
strangle her, and cast her insolence into the lake.

(Judith _is seized and bound in an instant_.)

HOLOFERNES (_in two minds_). Wait!

BAGOAS. She is bound, illustrious prince.

HOLOFERNES. Wait!

BAGOAS (_aside to_ Holofernes). Prince, let not the benevolence of your
heart be your undoing, for in the loveliness of her face is cunning and
great peril. I have lived all my days amid the craftiness of women, and
my lord also knows somewhat of their strange tricks, which bring ru