could walk I have nursed him on my knee; and he was filled like the full
moon--with naughtiness.

OZIAS. What has brought you at last out of your house? Are you come to
prophesy once more?

CHABRIS. I have given up prophesying.

OZIAS. A profession full of risks.

CHABRIS. I pass my endless days in meditation and solitude.

OZIAS. That sounds much safer. How comely is the wisdom of old men!

CHABRIS. And what do you do, sprig?

OZIAS. Has none told you?

CHABRIS. I see nobody but my daughter's granddaughter, and her I forbid
to speak to me, because being a woman she has the tongue of a woman, and
a woman's tongue is unfavourable to meditation. How should I be told?

OZIAS. I am the governor of this great city of Bethulia.

CHABRIS. You are responsible for this city?

OZIAS. I am.

CHABRIS. Now I understand my misfortune. And the truth was in me when I
said to your mother as she lay dying: Better it is to die without