r his foes and her heart, and invites him to rest from
his arms in her embraces in the fair valley of Sorek. Temptation seizes
upon the soul of Samson. He prays God to make him steadfast; but she
winds her toils the tighter: It is for him that she has bound a coronet
of purple grapes upon her forehead and entwined the rose of Sharon in
her ebon tresses. An Old Hebrew warns against the temptress and Samson
agonizingly invokes a veil over the beauty that has enchained him.

"Extinguish the fires of those eyes which enslave me."--thus he.

"Sweet is the lily of the valley, pleasant the juices of mandragora,
but sweeter and more pleasant are my kisses!"--thus she.

The Old Hebrew warns again: "If thou give ear to her honeyed phrases,
my son, curses will alight on thee which no tears that thou may'st weep
will ever efface."

But still the siren song rings in his ears. The maidens who had come
upon the scene with Dalila (are they priestesses of Dagon?) dance,
swinging their floral garlands seductively before the eyes of Samson
and his followers. The hero tries to avoid the glances which Dalila,
joining in the dance, throws upon him. It is in vain; his eyes follow
her through all the voluptuous postures and movements of the dance.

[figure: a musical score excerpt]

And Dalila sings "Printemps qui commence"--a song often heard in
concert-rooms, but not so often as the air with which the love-duet in
the second act reaches its culmination, which is popularly held also to
mark the climax of the opera. That song is wondrously insinuating in
its charm; it pulsates with passion, so much so, indeed, that it is
difficult to conceive that its sentiments are feigned, but this is
lovelier in its fresh, suave, graceful, and healthy beauty:--

[figure: a musical score excerpt, sung to the words "The Spring with
her dower of bird and flower, brings hope in her train."]

As Dalila leaves the scene her voice and eyes repeat their lure, while
Samson's looks and acts betray the trouble of his soul.

It is not until we see and hear Dalila in the second act that she is
revealed to us in her true character. Not till now does she disclose
the motives of her conduct toward her lover. Night is falling in the
valley of Sorek, the vale which lies between the hill country which the
Israelites entered from the East, and the coast land which the
Philistines, supposedly an island people, invaded from the West.
Dalila, gorgeously apparelled, is si