1 So they sent ambassadors unto him to treat of peace, saying,

1 Tunc miserunt legatos suos universarum urbium ac provinciarum reges ac principes, Syriæ scilicet Mesopotamiæ, et Syriæ Sobal, et Libyæ, atque Ciliciæ: qui venientes ad Holofernem, dixerunt:

2 Behold, we the servants of Nabuchodonosor the great king lie before thee; use us as shall be good in thy sight.

2 Desinat indignatio tua circa nos: melius est enim ut viventes serviamus Nabuchodonosor regi magno, et subditi simus tibi, quam morientes cum interitu nostro ipsi servitutis nostræ damna patiamur.

3 Behold, our houses, and all our places, and all our fields of wheat, and flocks, and herds, and all the lodges of our tents, lie before thy face; use them as it pleaseth thee.

3 Omnis civitas nostra, omnisque possessio, omnes montes, et colles, et campi, et armenta boum, gregesque ovium, et caprarum, equorumque et camelorum, et universæ facultates nostræ atque familiæ, in conspectu tuo sunt:

4 Behold, even our cities and the inhabitants thereof are thy servants; come and deal with them as seemeth good unto thee.

4 sint omnia nostra sub lege tua.

5 So the men came to Holofernes, and declared unto him after this manner.

5 Nos, et filii nostri, servi tui sumus.

6 Then came he down toward the sea coast, both he and his army, and set garrisons in the high cities, and took out of them chosen men for aid.

6 Veni nobis pacificus dominus, et utere servitio nostro, sicut placuerit tibi.

7 So they and all the country round about received them with garlands, with dances, and with timbrels.

7 Tunc descendit de montibus cum equitibus in virtute magna, et obtinuit omnem civitatem, et omnem inhabitantem terram.

8 Yet he did cast down their frontiers, and cut down their groves: for he had decreed to destroy all the gods of the land, that all nations should worship Nabuchodonosor only, and that all tongues and tribes should call upon him as god.

8 De universis autem urbibus assumpsit sibi auxiliarios viros fortes, et electos ad bellum.

9 Also he came over against Esdraelon near unto Judea, over against the great strait of Judea.

9 Tantusque metus provinciis illis incubuit, ut universarum urbium habitatores principes et honorati simul cum populis exirent obviam venienti,

10 And he pitched between Geba and Scythopolis, and there he tarried a whole month, that he might gather together all the carriages of his army.

10 excipientes eum cum coronis et lampadibus, ducentes choros in tympanis et tibiis.

11 Nec ista tamen facientes, ferocitatem ejus pectoris mitigare potuerunt:

12 nam et civitates eorum destruxit, et lucos eorum excidit.

13 Præceperat enim illi Nabuchodonosor rex, ut omnes deos terræ exterminaret, videlicet ut ipse solus diceretur deus ab his nationibus quæ potuissent Holofernis potentia subjugari.

14 Pertransiens autem Syriam Sobal, et omnem Apameam, omnemque Mesopotamiam, venit ad Idumæos in terram Gabaa,

15 accepitque civitates eorum, et sedit ibi per triginta dies, in quibus diebus adunari præcepit universum exercitum virtutis suæ.