MESSENGER. And I am no common messenger. I come with wings through the night from Jerusalem, from Joachim, the high priest. OZIAS. Ah! (_Changing his tone and beckoning the messenger aside_.) What tidings do you bear? MESSENGER. I bear the licence from Joachim. OZIAS. What licence? MESSENGER. The licence for the people of Bethulia to drink the wine which is sanctified and reserved to the priests which serve the Lord. OZIAS (_affecting to be puzzled_). Who hath demanded this licence from Joachim? MESSENGER (_surprised_). The lord Ozias sent a messenger to Jerusalem to beseech that the licence should be granted. And my lord's messenger travelled so swiftly that in the moment when he reached the temple at Jerusalem he fell sick and vomited, and I have come to Bethulia in his place, for after he had vomited he unfolded to me the secret way into the city. OZIAS (_grandly_). It is true. In the heavy multitude of my cares I had forgotten this matter of the licence. MESSENGER (_confidentially_). And Joachim hath bidden me to say privily that if any have already in their extremity drunk of the sanctified wine it shall be denied utterly--for the sake of the church. OZIAS. Ah! MESSENGER. And here is the licence. (_Offering it_.) OZIAS. Friend, keep the licence and render it back to Joachim, the high priest in Jerusalem. For I need it not, and I demanded it only by excess of prudence such as becomes the governor of a city besieged and thirsting. But we Bethulians are a faithful and a constant people, and we have trusted in the Most High. And if perchance any have drunk of the sanctified wine unknown to me (_with a grimace_)--it shall be denied utterly, for the sake of seemliness. MESSENGER. But in the days of trial to come, will not the lord Ozias have need of the licence? OZIAS (_grandly_). Friend, return ye to Joachim and say to him that the Lord has delivered Bethulia from the Assyrians by the subtlety of his servant Ozias. MESSENGER (_amazed_). What says my lord? OZIAS. Yea, this night the head of Holofernes is set on a spear in the square before the temple, and the Assyrians flee one from another in disorder, and my hosts are about to descend upon them and rend them to pieces where they stand foolishly in the valley. MESSENGER. But this thing is marvellous beyond the understanding of man! OZIAS. It is indeed marvellous. MESSENGER. And when Joachim enquires of me who hath taken Holofernes the great captain to behead him, and by what device, what shall I answer to Joachim? OZIAS. You will answer that Ozias, knowing the weakness of Holofernes, sent down to him secretly a woman, a certain Judith of Bethulia, and upon the counsel of Ozias the woman by wiles compassed the death of Holofernes as I have told you.