f thy Hebrew scruples thou
wouldst not drink of my wine.

JUDITH. I will drink again. (_She does so_.)

HOLOFERNES _(taking the goblet and drinking)._ Dost thou verily know thy
power and thy dominion, Judith?

JUDITH (_simply_). Yes, I know it now better than thou.

HOLOFERNES. Thou dost not. For I am mad for thee, and thou hast set thy
seal upon me for evermore. My heart cannot hold thee, for thou hast
filled it to overflowing, and all men see that my heart is full of thee
and runneth over. Yea, I have a hundred and two and thirty thousand that
bow themselves at my feet and that live and die by my glance. And I am
at _thy_ feet and thy glance is my joy and my sorrow according to thy
whim. Judith, I entreat thee, command me something. For whatever thou
command me, that will I execute. And be not afraid in thy command, for
my power is very great and there is none like it save only my lord
Nebuchadnezzar's.

JUDITH (_tenderly_). I command thee that thou be happy. For thy captive
has no other desire.

HOLOFERNES. Say not my captive. For it is I that am thy prisoner. And I
will set thee on my throne, and in my great boldness I will dare to sit
beside thee. But thou shalt reign. And we will live together in Assyria
long years.

JUDITH (_changing her mood_). There is no requisition in the grave
whether you have lived ten or an hundred or a thousand years. But the
God of Israel is a shield.

HOLOFERNES (_eagerly_). And I have told thee that thy god shall be my
god; but in secret, because of that which I owe to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Yet shall the whole earth know that thou, Judith, alone art my god.

JUDITH. But thou hast other wives.

HOLOFERNES. No!

JUDITH. Yes! It has been whispered to me that thou hast many wives, and
concubines without number.

HOLOFERNES. It is a lie. For from this night I have put away from me all
women but thee, and there is not one among them to compare with thee.
(_Appealingly_). And since the judgment of heaven hath done a miracle
by thee in the tent of Holofernes this night, wilt thou deny, O
tenderness! that thou hast been divinely appointed to me, and I to thee?

JUDITH. I will not deny that the Lord is in this thing. And for thy
comfort I will tell thee that which thou knowest not.

HOLOFERNES (_expectant_). Tell me.

JUDITH. Before I escaped from Bethulia, as I lay on my bed, a vision
came to me, and it was the vision of Holofernes in the likeness of his
majesty and his might