Judith
* * * She doubted not His gifts
In this spacious realm; readily then she found Favor from the famed Prince,[*] when she felt the most need Of grace from the greatest Judge, — that God the Creator (5) Might free her from fear. To her the Father in Heaven, Glorious one, granted this boon, because of her great faith Aye in the Highest. Holofemes (so heard I) A wine-bidding wrought well, and with wonders uncounted Made ready a banquet; to this the boldest of captains (10) Summoned all his chief servants; with speed they obeyed, The bearers of bucklers; came to the brave lord The fighting folk-leaders. That was the fourth day Since that Judith, judicious in mind. The elf-bright damsel, erst had sought him. [X.] (15) Then they to that supper went to sit, The o'erweening to the wine-feast, all his comrades in woe, Bold bumy-warriors. There were bumpers deep Borne oft to the benches, with bowls and beakers Full to the feasters, and fey they received it, (20) The spirited shield-warriors, though their sovereign weened it not, Fierce ruler of heroes. Then Holofernes,[*] The gold-friend of men, was in glee o’er his cups; Laughed he and shouted, he bawled and he called, That men far off the mirth might hear, (25) How the stout-hearted cheered and stormed, How, rampant and raving, he roused with his urging The bench-sitting barons to clamor blithely. So the hateful one through the whole day Deluged[*] with wine all of the drinkers, (30) The strong-souled wealth-lord, till in stupor they lay, So drenched all his dukes as if death had them slain Glutted with good things. The prince gave order To fill for the feasters until the day faded, The darksome night neared them. Then the pernicious[*] one (35) Bade the blest maid be brought in haste, The ring-adorned, to his resting-place, The bracelet-laden. Forthwith obeyed they, The servitors, what their sovereign bade, The mailed warriors’ master: marched they quickly (40) To the guest-hall, where Judith they found Prudent in mind, and promptly then The buckler-bearers began to bring The virgin bright to the vaulted tent, Where Holofernes, hateful to God, (45) Rich in power, always rested, Nightly reposed. There was of pure gold A finely-wrought fly-net round the folk-leader’s Royal bed hung, that the baleful one, Leader of legions, through it might look (50) On every one that entered therein, The children of heroes, but none on him Of human kind, unless the haught one Perchance invited some valiant soldier To come to council. To the couch they brought (55) With speed the seeress; then went the stout-souled Their prince to apprise that the holy maid Was brought to his bower-tent. Then was the burg-lord, The brave in heart, blithe; the bright virgin meant he With foulness and filth to pollute; the Dispenser of fame would not, (60) Guardian of splendor, suffer that, but stayed him from it, Wise Wielder of hosts. The wicked one passed thence; The wanton caitiff, begirt with warriors. The baleful his bed to seek, where life he should lose In a single night; shocking the end (65) He awaited on earth, though this he had wrought out, The dread king of men, while here he yet dwelt In this world under welkin. So wine-drunken fell The regal to rest, that no rede now remained In the cell of his sense: the soldiers paced forth (70) Out of the hall with mickle haste, The wine-sated warriors, who the word-breaker, The terrible tyrant, to bed had attended For the last time. Then the Lord’s servant The matchless maiden, was wholly mindful (75) How most lightly to rob of life That wicked one before he awoke, The carnal caitiff. The curly-locked Seized a sword of might, the Master’s maiden, Sharp from scouring, and drew from the sheath [*] (80) With her right hand. The Ruler of Heaven By name she besought, the Saviour of all Who dwell in the world, and spake these words: ‘O God of beginnings, and Giver of comfort, The Almighty’s Son, I seek for thy mercy; (85) Be now benignant to me in need, O Power of the Trinity. Terribly now My heart is heated, and heavy my soul. Sore troubled with sorrows; vouchsafe, Lord of Heaven, True faith and full triumph, that I may o’erthrow (90) With this steel the destroyer; bestow on me weal. O masterful Monarch, for ne’er of thy mercy My need was more vast: revenge, mighty Lord, Splendid glory-dispenser, the rage of my spirit, In my bosom the burning.’ The highest and best Judge (95) Straight dowered her with daring, as each one he doth Of those dwelling here who seek for his help With reason and right faith. Her spirit dilated, To the holy new hope came; she seized then the heathen Hard by the hair; with her hands she there haled him (100) Disdainfully toward her, the treacherous man, And laid him along, the bulk unlovely, As she most meetly the wretch could manage, The woful one wield. Then did the wavy-haired Smite the foeman with flashing sword, (105) The hostile-minded, so that his head Was half-way sundered, and he lay swooning, Dire-wounded and drunken. Not yet was he dead, Bereft of his soul; again she smote, The valiant virgin, with nerve and vigor, (110) The heathen hound, so that his head rolled Forth on the floor; the body so foul Lay lifeless behind, but the soul sped away, Sank beneath the abyss, and there was abased, Ever thereafter pinioned with pangs, (115) Bewound by serpents and bound by torments, Fastened firm in the flaming of hell, Since hence he removed. Nor may he hope ever That he shall evade from that vault of vipers, But, drowned in darkness, there shall dwell, (120) Ever for ages without end, In that black abode, bereft of bliss. [XI.] By fight there gained she glory renowned, By stoutness in strife, as God vouchsafed her, Guardian of Heaven, granting her speed. (125) Then the prudent damsel promptly carried The bold war-chieftain’s head so bloody, Shut in that scrip [*] in which her servant, The fair-cheeked woman proficient in virtue, Thither had brought the bread of them both. (130) To her aid she gave it, the gory head, To the hand of the helpful to bear it home, To her junior, Judith. Then went they joyful, Brave women both, and bold of spirit, Till the proud-souled and prosperous maids (135) Trode forth in triumph out from the troops, And saw unveiled before their vision The gleaming walls of the glorious city, Bethulia. Then the bracelet-decked ones Hasted forthright upon the footway, (140) Until the glad-minded at length had gone Unto the wall-gate. There sat the warriors, The heroes watching, holding their ward Within the fortress, as erst to the folk, The rueful-souled, Judith rightly bade, (145) The wily maid, when she went her way, The daring damsel. She, dear to her people, Had now returned, the tireless of thought, And straight way commanded one of the men To come from the mighty burg and meet her, (150) Then in great haste to hurry them in Through the gate of the wall. These words then spake To the triumphing people: ‘Now can I tell you A mindworthy thing, that mournful of mood Ye no longer may be: the Lord is blithe toward you, (155) The Splendor of kings; it is now spread abroad, Far and wide through the world, that victory wondrous And radiant awaits you; renown shall be wrought For dole and distress which long ye endured.’ Then were blithe the dwellers in burg (160) When they had heard how the holy one spake Over the high wall. The host was joyful; To the fortress-gate hastened the folk Men and women in multitudes many, In throngs and bands, thousands in number. (165) They swarmed and surged towards the servant of God,. Elders and youths: of every man In the mead-city the mind was cheered, As soon as they heard that to her home Judith was come; full quickly then (170) In lowly wise they let her in. Then the adroit one, adorned with gold, Called to her servant, clever in mind, The head to unhide of the leader of hosts, Blood-stained as it was, and bear as a sign (175) How in battle she fared, to the dwellers in burg. Then the noble one spake to the people unnumbered: ‘Here can ye clearly, conquering heroes, Leaders of legions, gaze on the loathsome Head of the heathen Holofernus, (180) Lacking life, and alarming no longer. He, most of all men, wrought us murders and crimes, Harrowing hardships, and higher had heaped them, These galling griefs, but God vouchsafed him No longer life, that he might vex us (185) With thrilling throes: I thrust him to death Through the succor of God. Now will I beseech Each buckler-bearer, each burgess among you, To busk and bown him without delay, Go forth to the fight; when the Maker of first things, (190) The King transcendent, hath sent from the East The lustrous light, bring your linden-shields, Breast-shielding bucklers and byrnie-coats, Helmets aflame to the phalanx of foemen, There to fell the folk-leaders with flashing swords, (195) The death-fated captains. Doomed are your haters, Destined to die, while to you will redound The boast of battle, as he has boded, The Master of might, by this my hand.’ Then the host of the swift ones was speedily harnessed, (200) The dauntless to conflict; the daring ones stepped forth, Brave soldiers and comrades, bore banners emblazoned, Fared to the fight forth by the straight road, Heroes with helms from that holy city, At the day-dawning; shields loudly dinned, (205) Rang and resounded. Then reeled the lank one, The wolf in the wood, with the wan bird, the raven, Greedy of prey: well they both guessed That to them the fighters meant to furnish A feast on the fated; then flew the eagle (210) Hunger-driven, with hornèd beak, Dewy-pinioned and dusk of apparel. Sang the war-slogan. The soldiers marched forward, The barons to battle, warded with bucklers, Linden-shields curved, who a little before (215) Had suffered the scoff and the scorn of the stranger, The hiss of the heathen; hard was the guerdon Paid the Assyrians with play of the ash-spears, After the host of the Hebrew people, Gonfalon-guided, onward had gone (220) Against the camp. Then they with courage Sharply let fly the showers of shafts, Battle-adders from bows of horn, Stoutest of arrows; loudly they stormed, The warriors wrathful, winging their spears (225) At the horde of the hardy; the heroes were ireful, The dwellers in land, ’gainst the direful race; Marched the stern-souled ones, the stout of heart Fiercely o’erwhelmed their long-standing foemen, Drowsy with mead; then drew they with hand (230) Forth from their sheaths their finely-decked swords, Trusty of edge; tirelessly slew they The Assyrian chosen, champions all, Nerved with malice; none did they spare Among the myrmidons, mean nor mighty, (235) Of living men whom they might master. [XII.] So the retainers at morning-tide Harassed the strangers through the whole season, Till at length they felt, the furious foemen, The chiefest champions of the army, (240) That sturdy were the sword-strokes dealt them By Hebrew heroes. They hurried off The princeliest vassals to apprise, Inform with words; they woke the chieftains, And timidly told them the tidings of fear, (245) To the wearied by mead the woes of the morning, The direful sword-play. Straightway I learned That the slaughter-doomèd roused them from sleep, The men with heart-throes hastened in throngs To the pavilion of him the revengeful, (250) Holofernes; they hoped forthwith The battle to bode to the baleful prince, Ere upon him fell the force of the Hebrews, The dread of their down-rush. For so they all deemed, That the lord of men and the lovely maid (255) In the gorgeous tent together were, Judith the worthy and he, the wanton, Frightful and fierce; found was no man Who dared the warrior to awake, Or seek to know how they had sped, (260) The martial of mood and the holy virgin, The maid of God. In their might they drew nigh, The Hebrew folk, and fiercely they fought With hard-tempered weapons; they hotly repaid Their former feuds with hostile falchions, (265) Their grudges deep-grounded; Assyria’s glory Was weakened and wasted by that day’s work, Its haughtiness humbled. The heroes stood Round their ruler’s tent mightily roused, Woful in mind. Then one and all, (270) By God forsaken, began to storm, Loudly to noise, and eke to gnash, With their teeth enduring wrath; here ended their triumph, Their prosperous prowess. The heroes proposed Their ruler to rouse; success was not wrought them. (275) At length one ventured, though late his valor, A battle-man, to enter the bower-tent, Nerved for the peril, since prompted by need; There found he his gold-lord lorn of his ghost, Stretched on his pallet, pallid of hue, (280) Relinquished by life. Then fell he belive Agrised to the ground, ungoverned of mood, Gan tearing at once his hair and attire, And spake this word unto the warriors, Who, sombre of spirit, were waiting outside: (285) ‘Here is predicted our own perdition, Tokens are toward that near is the time Full of afflictions, and now pressing forward, When we shall lose our lives together, Sink in the strife: hewn with the sword here (290) Lies headless your chief.’ Cheerless they then Hurled down their weapons, and, weary at heart, Hurried to flight. Behind them were fighting The mighty people, until the most part Of the pagan legion lay low in the battle (295) On the conquest-plain, carved by the sword, At the will of the wolves, and none the less welcome To ravening ravens. Away fled the remnant Of hostile shield-soldiers. Behind them pursued The troops of the Hebrews, enhanced by their triumph, (300) And graced with new glory; their God gave them help, Became their ally, the Lord Almighty. Gallantly then with gleaming blades The high-souled heroes hewed out a war-path Through forces of foemen, shore down the phalanx, (305) Shivered the shields; the shooters were Embittered by battle, the Hebrew barons; The thanes at that time were mightily thirsting For death-play with darts. There fell in the dust The principal part of all their poll, (310) The high in rank of the hostile race, Assyrian soldiers: to their own soil Came back few survivors. The valiant ones wheeled, The conquerors returned through the midst of the carnage, Through blood-reeking bodies; away they could bear, (315) The dwellers in land from those unloving, Their ole-time foes, baleful and odious, Bloody booty and trappings brilliant, Bucklers and broadswords and brown-hued helmets, Treasures of price. Powerfully had they (320) On that folkstead their foes overcome, The home-defenders their hates of old Had slain with the sword: in their footsteps they stayed, Those who in life were to them most malign Of living races. The whole array, (325) The most noted of nations, for fully a month, The lordly and curly-locked carried and led To Bethulia, the brightest of burgs, Helmets and hip-swords and hoary corselets, The deckings of fighters, adorned with gold, (330) Costlier treasures than could be recounted By any man of those who are mindful; All that the doughty by daring won, Brave under banners amid the battle, Through the wise judgment of Judith their guide, (335) The mettlesome maid. They bought as her meed, From the foray afar to the virgin fair, The spear-stanch men, Holofernes’ sword, His blood-stained helmet and broad-spreading hauberks, Graced with red gold, and all that the great prince, (340) The haughty of mood, had of treasure or hoard, Of bracelets or bright gems, this to the bright damsel They gave, to the prudent. Judith praised for all this Him, Sabaoth’s Lord, who bestowed on her honor, On earth highest worship, reward eke in Heaven, (345) Meed of triumph in glory, because she had true faith Ay in the Almighty; at the end no doubt made she Of the long-desired guerdon. For this to the loved Lord Be world-during glory, who wind and air wrought, Rolling skies, roomy plains, with raging streams, (350) And Heaven’s mirth, through his own mild mercy! |
[*] Is the framed prince supposed to relate to Jesus Christ? [*] An Assyrian general under King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon. [*] Overwhelmed by a great quantity [*] "Pernicious" adjective which means to cause large amounts of harm or do something in a hurtful manner. [*] Is scouring relating to sparring? Or fighting? [*] scrip: a small bag or pouch, typically one carried by a pilgrim, shepherd, or beggar. Comes from Old French origin word escrepe, meaning purse. (Google definition search) |
Trans. Albert S. Cook. Copied from Haithi Trust Digital Library, Judith, And Old English Epic Fragment. Boston: D.C. Heath & co., (1888. [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/(13960/t66409h1m]