die. (_A mother in the group convulsively seizes her child. Pause_.
Ozias _walks about_.) We take to witness against you the heaven and the
earth and our God and the God of our fathers, which punishes us
according to our sins and the sins of our fathers; and we demand of you
that you deliver up the city to Holofernes and his host. (_A silence_.)

(Ozias _ascends solemnly to the vantage-point._)

OZIAS (_dominating the assembly_). Friends, it would seem that Charmis
has made an end. His words are excellent and full of pity. Who follows
him? Who will speak next? My ear waits. (_A silence_.) Ah! Then give
heed. The words of Charmis are full of pity, but I also have pity. Do
not I too cherish our women, and our maidens and our young children? And
because I pity I would not yield to the monster Holofernes. Yes, the
monster! This is not war that he wages. Once our enemy strove fairly
with the warriors of Israel. Now he makes our women and children to die
of thirst. The magnificence of war is gone from the earth, and
Holofernes by the excess of his hosts has rendered war ridiculous.
(Chabris _raises his hands_.) The peoples of the earth will perceive
that henceforward the institution of war cannot continue, and after this
there will be no more war. But meanwhile, if I go crouching to the feet
of Holofernes, what will happen and what will come to pass? Surely it
will come to pass that the monster who has sat down to watch us die of
thirst will slay our little children and our old men, and dishonour our
women, and ravish our innocent virgins; for the enslaving of the
conquered will not content his anger nor satisfy the lust of his great
hosts. Shall these things be? I say they shall not be. But what am I,
save the servant of the citizens of Bethulia? And what do I speak, save
the thought that is in your hearts? There is no cowardice in you. You
are not sheep, nor rabbits, nor beetles, nor lice. You are valiant men,