Judith — Chapter 10

Abram id est ancillam suam

Abra meaning her maidservant, as explained at ch. 8 (end) and ch. 9 (end). \"Abra\" is not a proper name but a common noun meaning \"companion\" or, from the Hebrew \"abar\" (to pass), \"attendant/follower\" (Pagninus). This was not an ordinary maidservant of Judith but one set over all her possessions, as the Greek specifies.

Unxit se myro optimo non myrto

She anointed herself with the best myrrh (myron in Greek — not myrtle, as some wrongly read), i.e., the best ointment, so as to spread wonderful fragrance from herself and strike Holofernes's nostrils even as her beauty struck his eyes and her beautiful words his ears. St. Ambrose (or Augustine), serm. 229 De Temp. (on Judith): \"The avenger of her nation took up weapons of adornment, not about to undergo nuptials from war but proceeding from the city as a warrior-bride; the lightness of adornment was that which befitted a soul bent on homicide. She goes led by the divine spirit, content with the sole consolation of one maidservant.\"

Cui etiam Dominus contulit splendorem

God added splendor to her — both by making her adornment appear more beautiful and brilliant to men, and by truly breathing a certain heavenly light and radiance upon her face, as He had done for Moses (Exod 34:29), St. Anthony, St. Ignatius, and other eminent saints. Note here a new art of warfare: whereas other virgins customarily protect their chastity by making themselves unattractive, Judith defended her chastity by adorning herself. \"All this adornment came not from desire but from virtue.\" St. Ambrose (De viduis): \"It was well that she who was about to fight assumed conjugal adornments, for the tokens of marriage are weapons of chastity.\"

Imposuit itaque abra suae ascoperam

Ascopera is a Greek word compounded of askos (wineskin) and pera (bag/wallet), meaning a saddlebag or traveler's sack in which wayfarers stow their clothes, provisions, and other utensils. Judith brought her own provisions so as not to be forced to eat the food of Holofernes, since devout Jews abhorred communion with pagans, especially because the pagans often offered their food to their idols as oblations (idolothyta, cf. 1 Cor 8). So Daniel and his companions (Dan 1:8) refused the royal food and lived on vegetables. \"Polenta\" is barley meal — barley soaked, then dried, roasted, and ground to flour. \"Palathas\" are cakes of dried figs (Pliny, lib. XIII, ch. 6).

Ideo ego fugi a facie eorum

Many hold that Judith here and in the following verses speaks falsehoods, but \"dutifully\" in order to liberate her people, and did not sin, because she judged that in such a case and extreme necessity lying was licit, even honorable and pious (as Plato, Origen, Cassian, and other Fathers held). However, Rabanus, Glossa, Hugo, Dionysius, Serarius, Salianus, Sanchez, and St. Augustine (De mendacio) excuse her from lying, because God directed her in the whole work and preserved her from sin, as she herself says (ch. 13:16). She conceals the truth and speaks ambiguously to her enemies who unjustly attack her, to destroy them — but does not lie. \"I fled\" means I departed swiftly; or I assumed the appearance of one fleeing. [Note: St. Thomas (Summa II-II, Q. 110 a. 3 ad 3): \"Judith is praised not because she lied to Holofernes, but because of the devotion she had for the salvation of her people, for which she exposed herself to danger.\"]

Vadam ad faciem principis Holofernis

Her purpose in saying she would reveal the secrets of her people was to insinuate herself with Holofernes, and having won his trust and found him unsuspecting, to kill him by pious stratagem. As Salianus correctly notes: in a just war (as was Judea's against the Assyrians), not only open but also covert force is licit and just; those whom it is lawful to lead to death may lawfully be brought into a trap. Stratagem is by nature morally neutral; it receives its goodness or evil from the end to which it is directed. Since Judith's end is good, the stratagem itself is praiseworthy — as is her bodily adornment.

Et erat in oculis eorum stupor

Their entire mental attention was seized and absorbed in beholding and admiring her extraordinary beauty, so they could see or think of nothing else. Judith knew this, and therefore assumed such great adornment to capture their eyes and minds, deceive them once captured, and kill Holofernes, thereby scattering his camp. St. Augustine (serm. 228 De Tempore, on Judith): \"In that woman the novelty of deceptive beauty mightily astonished the hostile army, so that in her presence they lost their strength, threw down their arms, and bowed their necks.\"

Duxeruntque illam ad tabernaculum

The Greek adds: \"with her maidservant, a chariot, and a guard of one hundred men.\" And then: \"Holofernes went out into the forecourt of his tent, and silver lamps preceded him\" — both because it was night (i.e., before dawn, as verse 11 shows), and because fire was customarily carried before the kings and princes of the Assyrians (cf. Jer 1:13).

Statim captus est in suis oculis

St. Augustine (serm. 229): \"When Holofernes saw her, his senses dissolved — he who was about to lose his soul along with his head. The disgrace of the young men lay captive to a woman's face; it was granted to a woman to disarm the young men and defeat the victors, to defend the troubled city and overthrow the barbarous warrior. The sincere deceived the corrupt; the chaste tricked the defiled; the modest slays the adulterer; the sober slaughters the drunkard. For she had so confounded those barbarous minds with the snare of her enticing face that she bound him with the art of many words, and rendered him conquered among armies and captive among weapons.\"

Ut non pro his merito contra eos

The Greek adds: \"For it is not good that one man remain of them, who if released could deceive the whole earth through women as beautiful as Judith.\" Behold — they speak the truth unknowingly; for they themselves were deceived and slain and put to flight by the Hebrews through Judith.

Sedentem in conopeo ita vocatur

A conopeum (canopy) is a curtain tapering upward to a sharp cone and spread out in a circle below, to ward off mosquitoes. \"Konos\" means cone, and such curtains are normally hung around camp beds and portable beds. The Greek says Holofernes sat upon his bed within the canopy. The Italians and French call it \"Padiglione.\"