CHABRIS. Why! Because plainly war cannot continue on such a scale. Or if
it does, mankind is destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar has rendered war
ridiculous.

OZIAS _(laughs; then half to himself, sarcastically)._ What is heavier
than lead, and what is the name thereof, but an aged fool?

CHABRIS (_descending again, self-centred_). It remains that I cannot eat
pulse without water to drink. (_To_ Ozias.) And surely Bethulia has more
wells than any other city of Judea.

OZIAS. The wells are at the foot of the hills, and Holofernes has
seized them all.

CHABRIS. That is not fighting.

OZIAS. It is war.

CHABRIS. No, no! In my time soldiers fought fairly.

OZIAS. And killed each other. Why should Holofernes sacrifice thousands
of lives to take the heights when he can reach the same result by
letting his men sit still and watch?

CHABRIS. I say this is not war. Once I travelled many days to Nineveh.
It is a city of extravagance, and when I beheld its mad, new-fangled
ways, I knew that the last day was nigh. I was right. Three thousand and
five hundred years since Jehovah created Adam, and Eve from his rib ...
Too long! Too long! And what is pulse without water? I must have water.