HOLOFERNES. Thou dost not. For I am mad for thee, and thou hast set thy seal upon me for evermore. My heart cannot hold thee, for thou hast filled it to overflowing, and all men see that my heart is full of thee and runneth over. Yea, I have a hundred and two and thirty thousand that bow themselves at my feet and that live and die by my glance. And I am at _thy_ feet and thy glance is my joy and my sorrow according to thy whim. Judith, I entreat thee, command me something. For whatever thou command me, that will I execute. And be not afraid in thy command, for my power is very great and there is none like it save only my lord Nebuchadnezzar's. JUDITH (_tenderly_). I command thee that thou be happy. For thy captive has no other desire. HOLOFERNES. Say not my captive. For it is I that am thy prisoner. And I will set thee on my throne, and in my great boldness I will dare to sit beside thee. But thou shalt reign. And we will live together in Assyria long years. JUDITH (_changing her mood_). There is no requisition in the grave whether you have lived ten or an hundred or a thousand years. But the God of Israel is a shield. HOLOFERNES (_eagerly_). And I have told thee that thy god shall be my god; but in secret, because of that which I owe to King Nebuchadnezzar. Yet shall the whole earth know that thou, Judith, alone art my god. JUDITH. But thou hast other wives. HOLOFERNES. No! JUDITH. Yes! It has been whispered to me that thou hast many wives, and concubines without number. HOLOFERNES. It is a lie. For from this night I have put away from me all women but thee, and there is not one among them to compare with thee. (_Appealingly_). And since the judgment of heaven hath done a miracle by thee in the tent of Holofernes this night, wilt thou deny, O tenderness! that thou hast been divinely appointed to me, and I to thee? JUDITH. I will not deny that the Lord is in this thing. And for thy comfort I will tell thee that which thou knowest not. HOLOFERNES (_expectant_). Tell me. JUDITH. Before I escaped from Bethulia, as I lay on my bed, a vision came to me, and it was the vision of Holofernes in the likeness of his majesty and his might. And I saw the vision by my bed, and so it was that I came down into the valley.... (_Softly_.) And wouldst thou that I should have uttered this secret to any but thee! HOLOFERNES (_full of emotion_). I will kiss thy lips, and thou art mine, O fragrance! JUDITH. Kiss my lips. (Holofernes _kisses her, and then in an excess of feeling stumbles backward_.) (_A half-veiled Assyrian woman appears at the opening R., and watches_. Bagoas, _in the porch of the tent, turns and sees her, and dashes at her with a weapon. Both disappear through the opening, R._) JUDITH (_moving with stealth towards the hidden knife, comfortingly_). O mighty child, where is thy strength, and where is thy terribleness? Rest thee a moment on the couch, and thy soul's captive will tend thee.