The
Ranums'
Panat Times
Volume 1, redone Dec. 2014
Judith as recounted to the Dauphin
by Claude Oronce Finé de Brianville, abbot of St. Benoist de
Quinçay, Histoire sacrée en tableaux pour Monseigneur le Dauphin (Paris,1677),
vol. 2, pp. 107-111. (For the original French, see the online version
available through Google Books, or Jean Duron's introduction to his
edition of Judith by the CMBV.)
Nebuchadnezzar having
defeated Arphaxad, King of the Medes, put Holofernes at the head of
80,000 foot soldiers and 12,000 cavalry, who conquered, almost without
resistance, all the vast lands they were crossing and who found that
only the Jews had enough courage to defend themselves. Holofernes
besieged them in the city of Bethulia and soon reduced them to the last
extremity. But their young men and their prayers armed God in their
favor, and it was by God's inspiration that a young widow came to offer
herself to deliver them. She was called Judith, and her virtue was not
less than her nobility and her beauty. After she had encouraged her
brothers, promising that they would soon be helped, but without having
said anything to them about her plans, she went out from Bethulia,
keeping in mind everything that would heighten her natural graces for
her great undertaking; and she went to the enemy camp with a single
serving girl. The advance guards stopped her first, but they found her
so lovely that they had to take her to their general, who was even more
dazzled by her than the others. She led him to believe that her God was
sending her to him, to surrender to him the perfidious nation of the
Jews, who, because they could adore only their Creator, irritated him
increasingly. And thus she obtained permission to eat only the meats
that were permitted by Jewish law, and to go about freely to say her
prayers wherever she wished. Holofernes let himself fall into this trap
and gave himself over totally to his new passion. He did everything he
could to please Judith by all manner of indulgences and good treatment;
after four days he requested that she sup with him, and gave her
magnificent treats. He himself drank so much that he became drunk, and
in that state he gave the order that they be left alone in his tent.
Since he was overwhelmed by wine, he soon was buried in a deep sleep,
and then the saintly heroine, having fortified herself with an ardent
prayer to God, took in one hand the sword of this general that hung from
the column of his bed, grabbed his hair with the other hand, and struck
off his head in two blows. During this time, her serving girl kept watch
at the door of the tent. Judith called her and gave her the bloody head
to put into her sack, and leaving the torso wrapped up in Holofernes's
banner, the two women went out through the enemy fortifications, under
the pretext of attending their usual prayers; and without any trouble
they finally reached the gates of Bethulia. As soon as they had been
allowed to enter by torchlight, all the Jews ran up in a crowd, and the
women showed them the frightful head that Judith had just cut off. Once
people began to get over their surprise at such an unexpected event,
they hung the head of Holofernes from the city walls, to show it to the
besiegers at daybreak; then the Israelites went out against the
Assyrians, while the latter were visibly terrified over the loss of
their general; and meeting almost no resistance, the Israelites chased
the Assyrians from their fortifications. The inhabitants became rich
upon the booty and came to thank God for their miraculous deliverance;
but everywhere great gratitude was expressed toward Judith. They wanted
to give her all the riches that had been found in Holofernes's quarters,
but she only accepted them in order to consecrate them to God in the
temple. And having withdrawn to her house after that, she was no longer
seen in public except on feast days. In this saintly way she grew old in
her sweet retreat until the age of one hundred and five, without ever
having denied the great glory that her heroic action had produced in the
world.