Judith

IX

She did not doubt the gifts of the honoured Creator

Of the wide Earth, from whence she had found succour

In her direst need. For the glorious godhead

Had protected her mortal soul,

And the Father in Heaven had granted her petition           5

Because her faith in Him was strong.

I have heard that the fearsome Holofernes

Gave a eager invitation to present

Wine and fine food at a great feast. The war-lord

Called on his thanes who came in haste;           10

A fine battalion of men made it to the prince.

They came upon him on the fourth day

Since Judith, bright and fair,

Guileful in mind, had first sought him

X

Then they sat at the benches to feast,          15

Comrades, warriors, mail-shirted soldiers,

Boastful in their cups. Along the ranks of men,

Flagons were carried, goblets stayed charged

And bowls kept full. Those ill-fated men

Drank their own doom, though their wicked ruler           20

Could have never foreseen it. Holofernes was

A broad and hearty host, he laughed

And shouted loudly, carousing in his cups,

So that men might hear his outpourings from afar,

His staunch oaths and belly-roared affirmations.           25

Drunken and obstinate, he preached earnestly

That his hall-men shouldn't be grave and solemn.

So it was that over the day, that terrible man

Drove on the men to get drunk on the mead,

Until they lost control of their own reason,           30

Whence they lay in a stupor, woozy and beaten,

Drained of all faculties. So he ordered

His men to attend until twilight.

Then, the corrupt man; he so full of sin,

Ordered that they should bring the blessed maid           35

Adorned with garlands and rings

Most richly to his chamber.

They did their duty as the prince had bid them,

They went post-haste to the guest-room

Where they came upon the most beautiful maiden,           40

Judith, wise and fair. From there they lead her

To the captain's lofty tent, where they found him,

Resting where he lay each night,

As was his habit and custom.

There was a golden-threaded            45

Fly-net of great beauty around the warrior's bed,

So that the hateful man might see through it

Any of his kins-men who came to seek him there

As they approached their chieftain.

But not a single man could have an audience           50

Unless that proud man had summoned them,

Or had commanded them into his sanctum,

Closer to him for counsel.

So they brought the woman to his bed,

The wise and fair lady, then they approached their lord           55

And told him that the holy woman

Was waiting for him in his tent. The notorious prince

Was overcome with delight when he thought of her,

That bright and rare creature about to be defiled

With impunity and disgrace by a wicked abuser.            60

But the Lord Almighty would not allow such perversion,

So he, the Holy Ruler of the World suppressed him.

That lasivious man, wanton and monstrous

Hurried forth to where he would soon meet his end;

A denoument for which he had always deserved,           65

That terrible prince, while he lived on the earth,

Beneath the heaven-tree of stars.

So he fell drunk onto his bed, insensible to pain and care.

His warrior-band, still merry on the mead

Left the tent and went quickly on their way;           70

That troop of soldiers had lad the oath-breaker,

Their malicious oppressor and prince of man

To his bed for the final time. Judith was mindful,

She who had served the Lord most strenuously,

Of how she might most readily attempt           75

To rip old age from the awful lord,

To wrench away a long life from the dark harrower

Before he awoke. Then that wise young girl

With flaxen hair sought out a keen blade-edge

To wield heavy blows and drew it out of its sheath.           80

Then she did call on the Creator of Heaven,

The Spirit of Truth and Saviour of the World, saying:

'I pray to you, O Lord of Creation,

Holy Son of the Father and Spirit of Hope,

To grant me mercy in my greatest need.           85

I am troubled with woe, for truly

My soul is on fire and my mind is desolate.

Lord of Heaven, grant me

Victory and a sure faith, that I might take this blade

And repay this fiend for his atrocities.           90

Give me my life, O Father

When I am in the greatest need of your great mercy,

Give me retribution, O God, give me a furious heart

And hot fire in my belly.' So it was that God

Filled her with boldness, as he does to all           95

Who seek his help with faith and hope.

Her heart was let loose to perform God's will,

She grabbed that dreadful man by his hair

And dragged him towards her. Drawing him closer,

She wrestled with him for a time,           100

Her trust in God set her strength and heart free

Until she had him under her control.

Then, she wielded the sword and struck him;

His own trusty weapon cleaving its master,

So that it cut halfway into his exposed neck.           105

He fell to the floor, dizzy, breathing softly,

Both drunk and terribly wounded. He clung onto life

But he lay still and stiff. Then the bold lady

Struck down again on the hated prince

And severed his head from his shoulders          110

So that it rolled away on the floor below.

The body, divorced from its crown lay still.

Then his vengeful soul swam in purgatory, raked with pain.

His spirit drifted in the nether-world

And was bound in torment below the earth,          115

Feasted on by giant snakes and serpents,

Tortured by the damned and facing eternal hell-fire.

He couldn't hope to ever escape

The hot sulphur choked that him,

He would forever endure the burning furnace           120

Of the foul devil's hall. He was doomed to be trapped there,

Evermore to remain at the mercy of monsters

In that terrible place, in the most profound anguish.

XI

Then wise Judith earned renown for her courage in the fight

As was given by God. She placed the dead man's head,           125

So bloody and gored into a bag

In which her fair-skinned maid

Had brought baked bread for them both.

She securely wrapped up the head in the sack

Then gave that gory prize to the girl.          130

Judith called on the young girl

To take it home. Then they both hurried out

From that place with bold and daring hearts.

Those glorious young girls went forth

Away from their safe home until they came upon          135

Bethulia's luminous walls. They approached,

Those radiant maidens, and followed the path

Away from the slumbering Assyrian troops

Until they came joyfully upon the castle-gate.

A group of war-men sat there, alert and awake.          140

She had commanded the baleful folk

To keep watch when Judith, the wise servant of God,

Cunning widow and brave soul

Travelled from that Hebrew tribe on her quest.

When she, that most beloved,          145

Returned to her tribe, that most prudent woman

Ordered one of the men to quickly go out to her,

Urgently, away from the city.

Immediately, they made him hurry back,

In haste, through the castle's portcullis          150

To deliver wise words to the gathered hoard. He said:

'I give you news of the greatest urgency,

News deserving of thanks and praise.

You no longer need to be sorrowful or mourn in your hearts

God is merciful! It shall be known           155

Over the whole wide earth that you have a renewed future.

It is bright and optimistic; a great redemption is conferred upon you,

For all the evil you have for too long experienced.'

The  people felt the first stirrings of joy,

When they learned of how Judith had spoken           160

From beyond the ramparts. They became eager

And made for the great heavy gate;

A great surge of humanity

Moving like a single body, many thousand souls

Pressing forward, ushering towards Judith.           165

Young and old, every one of them

Fed off a growing mood of joyfulness

When they learned that she had returned

To her home. They greeted her with great happiness

When at last she processed through the gate.          170

Then Judith, made up with gold

Commanded her maid to take out Holfrernes' blood-caked head.

Her wise lady in waiting took up the head

And Judith held it aloft like a trophy; a horrible sight.

God had protected her and had granted the victory.           175

That noble and renowned lady said:

'Look, you people, high leaders and all the host,

Gaze upon this lifeless sign;

The head of a most despised and hated man,

This heathen, Holofernes who troubled us for so long           180

More than anyone before, under whom we suffered terrible torment,

And sorrows. He would have continued to do so,

But God didn't grant him life in his twilight years.

He was a terrible and hostile man who hated us.

He was loathsome, but I deprived him of that long life           185

With God's help. Now I must ask

Each of you men, every bold soldier-at-arms

To form your battalions and be ready

To fight the Assyrians, for soon our Father,

The great and holy God, will send the warm glow of dawn          190

In the east. So then, to your shields!

Wear them bravely, put mail on your breast

And burnished helmets on your heads,

So you may stand strong in the enemies' battle-ground.

Cut down their chiefs with your sharp-bright swords.          195

For God has condemned them; they will fall,

And you will gain fame which will live on forever!

The great God has showed me through my own hands!

The warriors prepared the ground,

They were ready for the fight, courage welled up in their breasts           200

And they set out, at sunrise, their war banners held aloft,

Marching towards the enemies camp-ground,

Heroes all under their bright-strong helmets.

Their shields reverberated

With a noise to wake the dead, As it should, the lean wolf           205

Howled in the forest and the hungry raven

Rattled its cry. Both animals knew the thick edge of battle

And also that soon, the warriors would provide them with carrion

For them to gorge on. Following behind them

The eagle, dewy-feathered, soaring on the wing, ready for scraps,           210

All dark-hued and horned-beaked sang out

A mournful song. So the soldiers moved ahead;

Heroes in the fight gathered behind bright-edged shields,

Hollow and rounded, they who had felt

And endured the enemies' reproach           215

And the wrath of the pagans. They had avenged them

By dealing out severe justice in the spear-battle,

As well as the Assyrians after the Hebrews closed in,

Under their war-banner to boldly storm their camp.

So the folk let fly a rain of arrows,           220

Bright flashes shot from the horn-bows,

Sturdy arrows, Grim harbingers of war.

They shouted with a blood-boiling cry, threw their spears

So they blackened the sky. They were angry,

Those battle-weary men, with the hated race.           225

The bloody-minded men moved forward, those brave men

Awakened their ancient foes from slumber,

Still drunk on mead. The men drew their bright-swords

From their sheaths and approached,

The keenest and choicest of blade-edges.           230

Then the hostile men, Assyrian warriors

Struck without mercy. No man was spared,

Neither the high or low caste

Of all men alive. They subdued them all.

XII

So the faithful drove on at the strangers,           235

Time and again in the morning-hours,

Thus the officers in the enemy camp tasted

The intensity of the sword-war

Perpetrated against them

By the merciless attack of the Hebrew warriors.           240

Their most noted soldiers drew up to the chieftain

And awoke the warriors in fear,

Told terrible tales and most dreadful news

To the still-woozy men, reports of terror

And blood-thristy sword-play. Then, so I've heard,           245

Those fated to die were aroused from sleep,

They stood and shook their woolly heads,

And turned towards the leaders' tent,

Pressing on through the throng, saddened and baleful,

To Holofernes. They had hoped to inform him           250

Of the state of the battle, before he was assaulted,

Before the Hebrews overcame him in their fury.

Every man thought he lay with his lady,

Under the fly-net in the high and noble tent,

Where he slept soundly on a comfortable bed;           255

The beautiful Judith and the perverted man,

Dreadful and fierce. Not a single soldier

Dared to wake up the tyrant,

Or seek out in the new day

Holofernes and that beautiful, godly virgin,           260

That delightful Servant of God.

The soldiers edged nearer,

The Hebrews carried on in their slaughter

With their finely-forged weapons. Their swords fell

Heavily on their mortal enemy,

Old insults were repaid. The Assyrians' war-might           265

Diminished that fateful day and their pride was disparaged.

Soldiers stood stunned around their prince's tent,

Grim-faced and angry, their minds in a spin.

Then, in unison, they cried out;

A terrible, anguished wail, lacking all grace,           270

Knawing and angry. They ground their teeth in anguish,

Their glory had died, all honour gone.

Those fighters had wanted to awaken their lord,

But he couldn't comfort them, no help was forthcoming.

Then, bravely one of the fighters stood           275

And dared to enter the tent, as was necessary.

He found his warrior-lord lying pale on the bolsters;

The grim and gored remains of a man

Whose life was now forfeit. Then he fell,

Mournful on the ground.           280

He grasped the matted hair, and also his tunic.

He was sorely troubled.

Then he spoke to the assembled soldiers

Waiting outside the unfortunate mans' tent

'This is the symbol of our own demise,           285

The awful token of our fate now realised.

Grief is piled on grief, and we have become worthless,

Doomed to live in strife, and then perish. Here, branded by the sword

Lies our departed king.' Then, sorrowfully,

They hastily departed, with dark hearts.           290

They let their swords fall. Then that mighty band of brothers

Followed on behind, until the majority of the host

Layed hewed down by the Hebrews

On that field of woe, brought down by the keenest edges,

Now the spoils for wolves, and carrion 295

For the blackened ravens. Then the remaining men fled;

The Hebrew warriors pursued them with shields.

They were most worthy of honour and praise;

A newly forged fame as great and noble warriors. Almighty God,

The Highest Lord had fought for them.           300

So, with decorated swords, those most courageous fighters,

Stout heroes thrashed through a straight path-way

Through a hostile enemy, hewed their bucklers

And broke through the shield-wall. Brave and strong,

They had become rage-hard in the fight. The Hebrews'           305

Mighty battalions, were eager to meet in

Desperate war-play. The best part of the Assyrians

Fell into the dust that day, that hostile army

Was scythed down like wheat.

Few came back home alive to their kin-folk.           310

The nobles turned away from the troops,

Warriors fell back into the wasteland

Among the stench of the carnage.

The Hebrews looted their lifeless corpses;

Took much bloody plunder, 315

Mail-shirts, bright shields and broad-swords,

Burnished helmets and treasure-hoards.

They had won a marvellous victory,

A glorious and fated conquest against the foe,

Their guards-men had slew with swords           320

They had overcome them and killed them where they stood,

That host of man once so feared, the most hostile

In the earth. Then all of God's people,

This special race, twisted-locked,

Over the course of a whole month,           325

Carried back to brightest Bethulia

Helmets and short-swords, hoary bymies,

War-treasure, gold decorations

And intricate ornaments of great artfulness.

Any of those brave men might say,           330

Any of those great fighters who had pressed their force,

Brave under the war-banner on the field of battle

That they had gained their advantage because of Judith,

Through her wise advice and courage. So they brought to her

A reward for her service; the sword and helmet           335

Of cruel Holofernes, soaked in his blood.

Likewise his mail-shirt of gold

And all that that wicked man had owned,

His princely goods and his inheritance.

Neck-bands and jewelry were handed to her,           340

That quick-witted and beautiful lady.

She said that God had bestowed the blessing

As a reward to her in the earth-life

And to multiply the His glory. This she truly believed

Of her dearest Lord in Heaven. She was resolute           345

In what she yearned for most fully;

To fight in the name of the Lord, who had made the world,

And the heavens, likewise the rivers

And all the joys of heaven, through his own omnipotent grace.