Dixit autem Judith ad omnem populum: Audite me, fratres: suspendite caput hoc super muros nostros:

And Judith said to all the people: Hear me, my brethren, hang ye up this head upon our walls.

Hang we this head from the battlements, Judith said to the people; and now, brethren, here is my plan.

et erit, cum exierit sol, accipiat unusquisque arma sua, et exite cum impetu, non ut descendatis deorsum, sed quasi impetum facientes.

And as soon as the sun shall rise, let every man take his arms, and rush ye out, not as going down beneath, but as making an assault.

At sunrise, arm all of you, and go out to the attack; but this attack of yours will be a feint, you will not go down into the plain.

Tunc exploratores necesse erit ut fugiant ad principem suum excitandum ad pugnam.

Then the watchmen must needs run to awake their prince for the battle.

It will suffice to make the advance guards retreat, and rouse their general;

Cumque duces eorum cucurrerint ad tabernaculum Holofernis, et invenerint eum truncum in suo sanguine volutatum, decidet super eos timor.

And when the captains of them shall run to the tent of Holofernes, and shall find him without his head wallowing in his blood, fear shall fall upon them.

and when their leaders hasten to the tent of Holofernes, to find his headless body lying in a pool of blood, they will be overcome by terror.

Cumque cognoveritis fugere eos, ite post illos securi, quoniam Dominus conteret eos sub pedibus vestris.

And when you shall know that they are fleeing, go after them securely, for the Lord will destroy them under your feet.

Then, once assured that they are ready for flight, go out after them undismayed, and the Lord will beat them to dust under your feet.

Tunc Achior, videns virtutem quam fecit Deus Israël, relicto gentilitatis ritu, credidit Deo, et circumcidit carnem præputii sui, et appositus est ad populum Israël, et omnis successio generis ejus usque in hodiernum diem.

Then Achior seeing the power that the God of Israel had wrought, leaving the religion of the Gentiles, he believed God, and circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined to the people of Israel, with all the succession of his kindred until this present day.

(Meanwhile Achior, such visible proof before his eyes of what Israel’s God could do, cast heathenry aside and learned to believe in God. He would be circumcised, and reckoned among Israel’s folk, and so his posterity remain to this day.)

Mox autem ut ortus est dies, suspenderunt super muros caput Holofernis, accepitque unusquisque vir arma sua, et egressi sunt cum grandi strepitu et ululatu.

And immediately at break of day, they hung up the head of Holofernes upon the walls, and every man took his arms, and they went out with a great noise and shouting.

No sooner was day dawned, and Holofernes’ head raised aloft on the battlements, than all took up their arms, and sallied out with a great stir and noise of shouting,

Quod videntes exploratores, ad tabernaculum Holofernis cucurrerunt.

And the watchmen seeing this, ran to the tent of Holofernes.

whereupon the enemy’s advance guard hastened back to Holofernes’ tent.

Porro hi qui in tabernaculo erant, venientes, et ante ingressum cubiculi perstrepentes, excitandi gratia, inquietudinem arte moliebantur, ut non ab excitantibus, sed a sonantibus Holofernes evigilaret.

And they that were in the tent came, and made a noise before the door of the chamber to awake him, endeavouring by art to break his rest, that Holofernes might awake, not by their calling him, but by their noise.

The guards there went to the door of the banqueting-room and bustled to and fro; rouse their lord they must, but they had rather make this show of commotion and disturb him with their din, than wake him outright;

Nullus enim audebat cubiculum virtutis Assyriorum pulsando aut intrando aperire.

For no man durst knock, or open and go into the chamber of the general of the Assyrians.

never a man in all the Assyrian army durst knock at the door or go in.

Sed cum venissent ejus duces ac tribuni, et universi majores exercitus regis Assyriorum, dixerunt cubiculariis:

But when his captains and tribunes were come, and all the chiefs of the army of the king of the Assyrians, they said to the chamberlains:

But now chief and captain and commander in the Assyrian king’s service were waiting there, and they said to Holofernes’ attendants,

Intrate, et excitate illum, quoniam egressi mures de cavernis suis, ausi sunt provocare nos ad prælium.

Go in, and awake him, for the mice, coming out of their holes, have presumed to challenge us to fight.

Go in and rouse him; these Israelite rats have left their holes, and are boldly offering battle.

Tunc ingressus Vagao cubiculum ejus, stetit ante cortinam, et plausum fecit manibus suis: suspicabatur enim illum cum Judith dormire.

Then Vagao going into his chamber, stood before the curtain, and made a clapping with his hands: for he thought that he was sleeping with Judith.

Upon this, Vagoa went into the room where he lay, and stood behind the curtain clapping his hands; no doubt had he but Holofernes was there with Judith for his bed-fellow.

Sed cum nullum motum jacentis sensu aurium caperet, accessit proximans ad cortinam, et elevans eam, vidensque cadaver absque capite Holofernis in suo sanguine tabefactum jacere super terram, exclamavit voce magna cum fletu, et scidit vestimenta sua.

But when with hearkening, he perceived no motion of one lying, he came near to the curtain, and lifting it up, and seeing the body of Holofernes, lying upon the ground, without the head, weltering in his blood, he cried out with a loud voice, with weeping, and rent his garments.

Then, when his ears told him that the sleeper had not moved, he went closer to the curtain and lifted it. And when he saw the headless body of Holofernes lying there on the ground, weltering in its own blood, he gave a loud cry of lament, and tore his garments about him.

Et ingressus tabernaculum Judith, non invenit eam, et exiliit foras ad populum,

And he went into the tent of Judith, and not finding her, he ran out to the people,

Making his way to Judith’s tent, and finding her gone, he ran out to where the others stood;

et dixit: Una mulier hebræa fecit confusionem in domo regis Nabuchodonosor: ecce enim Holofernes jacet in terra, et caput ejus non est in illo.

And said: One Hebrew woman hath made confusion in the house of king Nabuchodonosor: for behold Holofernes lieth upon the ground, and his head is not upon him.

Here is great despite done, he cried, to the court of king Nabuchodonosor, and one Jewish woman its author! Holofernes lies there felled to the earth, and no head on his body!

Quod cum audissent principes virtutis Assyriorum, sciderunt omnes vestimenta sua, et intolerabilis timor et tremor cecidit super eos, et turbati sunt animi eorum valde.

Now when the chiefs of the army of the Assyrians had heard this, they all rent their garments, and an intolerable fear and dread fell upon them, and their minds were troubled exceedingly.

At this news, all the Assyrian leaders tore their garments; a craven fear fell on them they could not master, and their spirits were cowed utterly;

Et factus est clamor incomparabilis in medio castrorum eorum.

And there was a very great cry in the midst of their camp.

never was such a cry as went up then from the heart of the Assyrian camp.