THE STORIES OF NOTED PAINTINGS. 277 



JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES. 



By AUGUST BIEDEL (horn at Bayreuth in 1800; now living 

 at Rome. Original is No. 156 in the New Royal Pinakothek, at 

 Munich. In one of the Old Testament Apocryphal Books there 

 is related the story of Judith, the rich and beautiful Jewish 

 widow. Her native city, Bethulia, was once besieged by an 

 Assyrian army and reduced to the last extremity. When there 

 seemed no longer a chance of relief, this brave woman offered 

 herself for its deliverance. She dressed herself in her richest 

 attire and jewels, and with her waiting w r oman, presented her- 

 self before the tent of Holofernes, the chief captain of the 

 Assyrians. Her beauty captivated him, and her simple story 

 quieted his suspicions. He made a feast and was allured into 

 drinking inordinate quantities of wine. In the drunken sleep 

 which followed, Judith, shut up alone with him in his tent, cut 

 off his head with his own sword, and bore it to her countrymen. 

 In the early morning the Israelites fell upon their enemies while 

 they were panic-stricken at the slaughter of their leader and 

 totally routed them. Judith lived to receive the grateful love 

 of her people till she was one hundred arid five years old. And 

 long afterward an annual feast commemorated the heroic deed 

 of the Hebrew widow. 



GARIBALDI ESCAPING FROM CAPRERA. 



UNKNOWN. This famous Italian patriot was born at Nice in 

 1807. His life has been filled with perilous adventures and un- 

 ceasing revolutionary projects. In I860, the small island of 

 Caprera, lying off the northern coast of Sardinia, was given him 

 for a residence. It was however impossible for him to keep 

 quiet, and he was constantly engaged in schemes for Italian unity, 

 mainly directed against the Papal rule in Rome. In one of these 

 attempts the Roman government, assisted by the French, thought 

 to keep him confined to his island by a guard of ships of war ; 

 but he escaped, and was soon at the head of the insurgents on 

 the Roman frontier. It was reserved however for a stronger 

 man than Garibaldi to unite and renovate Italy (Victor Emanuel, 

 in 1870). 



