It recounts, in vigorous language, the deeds of the Apocryphal heroine, and dwells especially on the way in which her deed stired up the timorous Jews to more courageous patriotism. It is noteworthy that Aelfric himself had written a homily on Judith, to teach the English the virtues of resistance to the Danes. This homily must have been written earlier, and, perhaps, it influenced the writer of Judith to choose her as a national type in the fight for God and fatherland. This loss, however, is the less to be regretted since the remaining cantos, containing the crisis of the story, are, probably, the finest of all, and deal with a complete episode, to which the fragment of canto IX, telling of the faith of the heroine and the invitation to the feast of Holofernes, serves as introduction. Canto X describes, with all the delight of Old English poets in such pictures, the banquet in the Assyrian camp, the deep bowls of wine borne along the benches, and the shouts and laughter of the revellers.
Darkness descends, and the warriors bring the maiden to their master's tent.
Overcome with wine, he falls into a deep slumber, and the heroine, with a supplication to heaven for help draws the sword from its sheath. She hales the heathen towards her by his hair, and smites twice with her weapon, till his head rolls upon the floor. In canto XI, we read how Judith and her maid steal from the camp with the head of Holofernes, and return to Bethulia, where their kinsmen are waiting for them on the wall. As soon as the two approach, men and women hasten together to meet them, and Judith bids her servant uncover the trophy and exhibit it to the warriors. Then, with passionate words, she exhorts them to attack the camp, to bear forth shields and bucklers and bright helmets among the foe.