Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Judith adorns herself, and adorned proceeds to Holofernes; she is seized by scouts and brought to him, who is captivated by her beauty.
Vulgate Text: Judith 10:1-20
1. And it came to pass that when she had ceased crying to the Lord, she arose from the place where she had been lying prostrate before the Lord. 2. And she called her handmaid, and going down into her house, she removed from herself her hairshirt, and put off her garments of widowhood, 3. and she washed her body, and anointed herself with the finest myrrh, and parted the hair of her head, and placed a headdress upon her head, and clothed herself in garments of gladness, and put sandals on her feet, and took bracelets, and lilies, and earrings, and rings, and adorned herself with all her ornaments. 4. And the Lord also bestowed upon her splendor; because all this adornment depended not on desire but on virtue; and therefore the Lord increased this beauty in her, that she might appear to all eyes with incomparable comeliness. 5. And so she placed in the hands of her handmaid a leather flask of wine, and a vessel of oil, and parched barley, dried figs, and bread, and cheese, and set out. 6. And when they came to the gate of the city, they found Ozias and the elders of the city waiting. 7. And when they saw her, they were amazed and marveled exceedingly at her beauty. 8. Yet asking her nothing, they let her pass, saying: May the God of our fathers give you grace, and may He strengthen every plan of your heart by His power, that Jerusalem may glory in you, and your name may be numbered among the holy and the just. 9. And those who were there all said with one voice: So be it, so be it. 10. But Judith, praying to the Lord, passed through the gates, she and her handmaid. 11. And it came to pass, as she was descending the mountain, about the rising of the day, the scouts of the Assyrians met her and seized her, saying: Where do you come from? Or where are you going? 12. She answered: I am a daughter of the Hebrews, and therefore I fled from their presence, because I recognized that it will come to pass that they will be given to you as plunder, because despising you, they were unwilling to surrender themselves voluntarily, that they might find mercy in your sight. 13. For this reason I thought within myself, saying: I will go before the face of the prince Holofernes, that I may reveal to him their secrets, and show him by what approach he may take them, so that not one man of his army may fall. 14. And when those men heard her words, they gazed upon her face, and there was stupor in their eyes, for they marveled exceedingly at her beauty. 15. And they said to her: You have saved your life by finding such a plan, to come down to our lord. 16. But know this, that when you stand in his presence, he will treat you well, and you will be most pleasing in his heart. And they led her to the tent of Holofernes, announcing her. 17. And when she entered before his face, Holofernes was immediately captivated in his eyes. 18. And his attendants said to him: Who would despise the people of the Hebrews, who have such beautiful women, that we should not rightly fight against them for their sake? 19. So Judith, seeing Holofernes sitting in a canopy, which was woven of purple and gold, and emerald, and precious stones; 20. and when she had looked upon his face, she adored him, prostrating herself upon the ground. And the servants of Holofernes raised her up, at the command of their lord.
Verse 2: Her Handmaid
2. HER HANDMAID (that is, maidservant), as I said in chapter 8 and chapter 9 at the end.
Verse 3: She Anointed Herself With Myrrh
3. SHE ANOINTED HERSELF WITH MYRRH (some wrongly read 'myrtle'), that is, with perfumed ointment (for this is myron in Greek), THE FINEST, — so that she might spread a wondrous fragrance from herself, and with it strike the nostrils of Holofernes, just as her beauty struck his eyes, and her elegant words his ears. Hear St. Augustine, or rather St. Ambrose (for it has his style, as the Doctors of Paris have noted), sermon 229, On the Seasons, which is on Judith: 'The avenger of her nation took up the weapons of adornment, not about to enter a wedding from battle; but from the city the bride went forth as a warrior. There was no frivolity in the adornment that was fitted for the killing of the enemy. She proceeds led by the divine Spirit, and content with the singular solace of her maidservant. Her beauty, which charms, guards her; and lest her carefully guarded chastity be violently harmed, she addresses Holofernes, so that the desire may be conceived in the morning,' namely of a marriage union, which Judith was conceiving in her mind, and which she could easily have persuaded Holofernes of by her beauty and fair speech, had she wished to strive for it.
AND SHE PLACED A HEADDRESS UPON HER HEAD. — The headdress is a linen band shining with gems and golden spangles, and trembling ornaments. For this is what the Hebrew reala means, as I said on Isaiah 3. The word 'mitra' alludes to 'mithra,' which in Persian means the sun; for the sun is, as it were, crowned with a headdress by its purest and most brilliant rays. Virgins likewise, and the chaste, like Judith, are like certain suns crowned with headdresses, radiating on all sides with the splendor of their chastity.
AND LILIES, — that is, bracelets in the shape and form of lilies. The Greek is pselia, that is, bracelets, arm-bands, namely ornaments for the hands and arms.
Verse 4: The Lord Bestowed Upon Her Splendor
4. AND THE LORD ALSO BESTOWED UPON HER SPLENDOR. — Both by causing her adornment to appear more beautiful and radiant to people, and by truly breathing upon her face a certain celestial light and splendor — such as He breathed upon Moses, Exodus 34:29, and upon St. Anthony, St. Ignatius, and other outstanding saints, upon whom He sent rays of light, that their holiness might shine forth in their faces. See here a new art of warfare, by which Judith, in adorning herself, defended her chastity and the lives of her fellow citizens; for other virgins are accustomed to protect their modesty by disfiguring themselves. In the year of the Lord 870, when the Danes invading England approached the monastery of Coldingham, the Abbess Ebba, to protect her own and her nuns' chastity, cut off her nose and upper lip, and persuaded her nuns to do the same. Wherefore the invading Danes burned the monastery with the virgins. So reports Matthew of Westminster in his annals under the said year.
They evidently followed, by instinct, the word and deed of St. Pelagia the virgin, who, pressed by a similar necessity lest she suffer the loss of her virginity: 'Let us die,' she said, 'or even if they refuse, let us die. God is not offended by the remedy, and faith washes away the deed,' and so she threw herself from the roof, as St. Ambrose reports in book 3 On Virgins, and St. Chrysostom in his homily On Her Praises.
BECAUSE ALL THIS ADORNMENT DEPENDED NOT ON DESIRE BUT ON VIRTUE. — Because it proceeded from zeal to free her homeland from the destruction and ruin of the tyrant. Hear St. Ambrose in his book On Widows: 'And well did she, about to fight, resume her bridal adornments, because the tokens of marriage are weapons of chastity. For a widow could not please or conquer by other means. Why should we pursue the rest — that amid so many thousands of enemies she remained chaste? Why should we praise her wisdom, that she devised such a plan that, while luring the powerful man through intemperance, she kept lesser men away from herself, prepared the opportunity for victory, and preserved the merit of abstinence and the grace of chastity?
Verse 5: She Placed in the Hands of Her Handmaid
5. AND SO SHE PLACED IN THE HANDS OF HER HANDMAID (maidservant) A LEATHER FLASK OF WINE, — that is, a wineskin. For ascopera is a Greek word formed from askos, meaning a skin or bag, and pēra, meaning a wallet or small sack, and signifies a pouch or small bag in which travelers store their clothes, provisions, and other necessaries, and carry them with them. Suetonius uses this word, as does Suetonius writing of Nero: 'Around another's neck a leather bag was tied, together with a label: What could I do? But you deserved the sack.' Others read askopēra or askoruchnē; that is, a wineskin.
AND PARCHED BARLEY. — Polenta is barley flour, that is, barley that has been moistened, then dried and toasted, and ground into flour by a mill, about which I spoke on 1 Samuel 17.
AND DRIED FIGS, — that is, cakes of dried figs, about which Pliny writes in book 13, chapter 6. Some wrongly read lapathas instead of 'palathas' by metathesis.
Moreover, Judith brought this provision with her lest she be compelled to eat the food of Holofernes. For the more religious Jews so abhorred association with Gentiles that they would not even endure eating their food, especially because the Gentiles often offered their foods to their idols, making them food sacrificed to idols, about which I spoke on 1 Corinthians 8. So Daniel with his companions, chapter 1:8, refused to eat the royal food and lived on vegetables.
Verse 12: I Fled From Their Presence
12. THEREFORE I FLED FROM THEIR PRESENCE. — Many judge that Judith lies here and in what follows, but in a dutiful manner to free her people, yet without sinning, because she thought that in such a case of such great necessity, lying was permitted — indeed honorable and pious — as Plato thought, and indeed Origen, Cassian, and other Fathers whom I cited on Exodus 1. So Lyranus, Abulensis, Mariana, Emmanuel Sa, and St. Thomas, II-II, Question 110, article 3, reply 3.
But Rabanus, the Glossa, Hugo, Dionysius, Serarius, Salianus, Sanchez, and St. Augustine in his book On Lying excuse Judith from falsehood, because God was directing her in this entire work and preserving her from sin, as she herself says in chapter 13, verse 16. Judith therefore conceals the truth and speaks ambiguously to the Assyrians, her enemies who unjustly invade her, in order to destroy them, but does not lie. She says therefore, 'I fled,' that is, I departed quickly; for 'to flee' often means the same as to depart quickly and to tear oneself away from someone. 'From their presence': or, 'I fled,' that is, I assumed the appearance and guise of one fleeing, or of a deserter, and as if a fugitive fell into your hands by night, and I surrender myself to you. So Serarius, Sanchez, Salianus, and others (1).
BECAUSE I RECOGNIZED THAT IT WILL COME TO PASS THAT THEY WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS PLUNDER, — for indeed this would have been the case if you consider human reason and foresight; for by human means and human strength the Hebrews could not resist the Assyrians; but Judith, relying on a higher counsel and oracle, knew that this would not happen except through the heavenly providence and correction of God.
13. I WILL GO BEFORE THE FACE OF THE PRINCE HOLOFERNES, THAT I MAY REVEAL TO HIM THEIR SECRETS. — Namely, that the besieged citizens are suffering extreme thirst and hunger, and therefore murmuring against their leaders and pressing them to surrender to Holofernes, etc. She speaks truly: yet this was not her ultimate end, but only an intermediate one. For her real plan was to bind Holofernes to herself, so that when bound to her and off his guard, she might, when the opportunity arose, slay him. For as Salianus rightly notes, it must be observed here that in a just war, such as that of the Jews against the Assyrians, not only open force but also hidden and covert means are lawful and just; and those whom it is lawful to put to death can rightly be drawn into a trap. Ruse and stratagem are indifferent by nature, and receive malice or goodness from the end to which they are directed. Since therefore Judith's end was good, the ruse itself will also be praiseworthy; and the same is to be thought of the adornment and care of her body.
Verse 14: Stupor in Their Eyes
14. AND THERE WAS STUPOR IN THEIR EYES, FOR THEY MARVELED EXCEEDINGLY AT HER BEAUTY. — The entire attention of their minds was therefore seized and absorbed in gazing at and admiring her extraordinary beauty, to such a degree that they could neither see nor think of anything else. Judith knew this, and therefore assumed such great adornment, that she might capture their eyes and minds, and having captured them, deceive them, and slay Holofernes, and thus scatter his camp.
Hear St. Augustine (or rather St. Ambrose, or certainly St. Maximus; for many sermons of St. Ambrose are found word for word in St. Maximus, Bishop of Turin; for the style of both is very similar), sermon 228, On the Seasons, which is on Judith: 'At the sight of this woman, the hostile army was vehemently alarmed by the novelty of her treacherous beauty, so that in their submission to her they lost their strength, cast away their weapons, and bowed their necks. The deception of Holofernes is led to the headquarters with the ranks submitting, and the victory of the mourning city.
Morally, learn here how dangerous and pernicious is the sight of women: examples of which are Samson, David, Solomon, and a thousand others. Truly Sirach 42:14 says: 'Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good, and a woman who causes shame and disgrace.' See what was said there.
Verse 16: They Led Her to the Tent of Holofernes
16. AND THEY LED HER TO THE TENT OF HOLOFERNES. — The Greek adds: with her maidservant and a chariot provided and an escort of a hundred men. And then: And Holofernes went out to the proscenium, that is, to the vestibule of the tent, and silver lamps went before him; both because it was night, namely the twilight of dawn, as is clear from verse 11; and because fire was customarily carried before the kings and princes of the Assyrians, as I said on Jeremiah 1, verse 13.
Verse 17: Holofernes Was Captivated
17. HOLOFERNES WAS IMMEDIATELY CAPTIVATED IN HIS EYES. — Hear St. Augustine, sermon 278 already cited: 'When Holofernes saw her, he was undone in his senses, about to lose his soul along with his head. For the disgrace of warriors lay captive to a woman's face; it was permitted to a woman to disarm warriors, and to vanquish victors; to defend the anxious city, and to overthrow the barbarian fighter. The sincere one deceived the corrupt, the chaste one beguiled the polluted, the modest one destroyed the adulterer, the sober one slaughtered the drunkard. For she had so confounded those barbarous minds with the treachery of her face, that she might bind him with the art of many tales, and render him conquered amid armies, and captive amid weapons.' And a little further on: 'Although that warrior in arms gazed with sickened mind upon the face of that most chaste woman, she, however, was thinking about his head — the reason she had come — so that by removing it she might aid the exhausted citizens, and protect, defend, and avenge many heads.'
Verse 18: Who Would Despise the Hebrews
18. THAT WE SHOULD NOT RIGHTLY FIGHT AGAINST THEM FOR THEIR SAKE. — The Greek adds: Because it is not good that a single man of them should remain, who if let go could deceive the whole earth, through such beautiful women as Judith. Behold, they speak the truth, but unknowingly; for they themselves were deceived, slain, and put to flight by the Hebrews through Judith.
Verse 19: Sitting in a Canopy
19. SITTING IN A CANOPY: — so called is a curtain terminating above in an acute cone and spreading below in a circle to keep out gnats. So Lyranus; for kōnōps in Greek means a gnat, and such curtains are customarily placed around camp beds and portable beds. Hence the Greek has Holofernes sitting upon his bed in the canopy. The Italians and French call it Padiglione.