“Samson et Dalila” – Act 2

Act Two

Prelude Scene One

The scene represents the valley of Sorek in Palestine. To the left is Delilah’s dwelling, fronted by a light portico and surrounded by Asiatic plants and luxuriant vines. As the curtain rises, night is beginning to fall and grows progressively darker throughout the act. (Delilah is more richly adorned than in Act One. As the curtain rises, she is seated on a rock near the portico of her house and appears thoughtful.)

Delilah Samson, seeking me out again, this evening is bound to come here. This is the hour of vengeance which must satisfy our gods! Love! Come to aid me in my weakness! Pour the poison into his breast! See to it that, overcome by my wiles, Samson lies in fetters tomorrow! In vain would he like to be able to drive me out, to banish me from his heart! Could he extinguish the flame which memory sustains? He is mine, he is my slave! My brothers fear his wrath; I, alone among all, do dare him and keep him at my knees! Love! Come to aid me in my weakness! Pour the poison into his breast! See to it that, overcome by my wiles, Samson lies in fetters tomorrow! Against love his strength is useless; and he, the strongest among the strong, he who burst a nation’s bonds, will succumb to my endeavours!

Scene Two

(The High Priest enters.) High Priest I have climbed the mountain to seek you out; Dagon, who accompanies me, has guided me to your dwelling.

Delilah Greeting, my father! Be thou welcome, thou who art held in honour here! High Priest Our fate is known to you. The easy victory of the Hebrew slaves has delivered the town to them. Before them our soldiers have fled, terror-stricken at the very name of Samson, whose appalling daring has thrown them into confusion. Fatally for our people, he received from his god strength and daring. Bound by a vow, Samson from the day of his birth was singled out by heaven to restore the might of the Israelites. Delilah (bitterly) I know that his courage defies your wrath, and that there is no injury he does not save for you. High Priest At your knees his strength one day deserted him; but since then he has striven to forget Delilah. It is said that, in his soul forgetting your love, he laughs at the passion which lasted only a day! Delilah I know that, hearing from his brethren all the tales and bitter reproaches our love has caused, Samson, in spite of himself, struggles and strives in vain; I know how much he loves me, and my heart fears nothing. It is useless for him to resist me; he is mighty in battle, but he is my slave and trembles in my arms.

High Priest Put your power at our service! Lend us your help! Taken by surprise and defenceless, let him be overcome today! Sell me your slave Samson! And, in payment of his ransom, I’ll not make mere promises; you can choose from among all my wealth. Delilah What matters your gold to Delilah? And what could a whole treasure do if I was not dreaming of vengeance? You yourself, for all your wisdom, I have deceived by this love. Samson was able to master you once; but he has not been able to overcome me yet, for, as much as you, I loathe him! High Priest I should have guessed your hatred and your plan! My heart rejoices to hear you! But on his heart have you not already vainly measured your strength, tried out your wiles? Delilah Yes!...Three times already, disguising my purpose, I have tried to discover the secret of his strength. I kindled this love, hoping that by its flame I should read the unknown hidden in the depths of his soul. But three times too, frustrating my hopes, he has not been at all frank, has let me see nothing. Vainly I went through the pretence of a wild passion, hoping to soften his heart by my caresses! I saw this proud captive clasped in my arms tear himself from my bed and rush off to battle. Today, however, he is under my power, for I saw him grow pale and tremble in my presence, and I know that at this moment, deserting his own people, he is coming back here to tighten the bond between us. For this last encounter I have prepared my weapons; Samson will not be able to resist my tears.

High Priest May Dagon, our god, deign to extend his arm! You fight for his glory, and through him you will triumph! Delilah To gratify my hate, my power must ensnare him! I want him, overcome by love, to be humbled in his turn! High Priest To gratify my hate, I need Delilah to ensnare him; overcome by love, he must be humbled in his turn! Delilah To gratify my hate, etc. High Priest My hope lies in you alone, yours be the honour of vengeance! Yours! To gratify my hate, etc. Delilah Mine the honour of vengeance! Mine the honour! Mine! To gratify my hate, etc. Ah! Delilah and High Priest Let us ally ourselves, we two! Let us ally ourselves, we two! Death! Death! Death! Death! Death! Death to the Hebrew leader! High Priest Samson, you were telling me, is bound to come back here? Delilah I expect him! High Priest I’ll take my leave. He could surprise us together. By and by I’ll come back by secret paths. The fate of my people, woman, is in your hands.

Strip from his heart the impenetrable shield and discover the hidden secret of his strength. (He leaves.) Delilah (returns towards her house and leans dreamily against one of the pillars) Could it be that over his heart love has lost its power? The night is dark, without a gleam of light... Nothing can betray his presence. Alas! He does not come! (Samson comes in. He seems worried, hesitant, and looks all around him. The night is gradually darkening.)

Scene Three

(distant lightning) Samson To this place, in spite of myself, my steps have drawn me back... I would flee, but alas I cannot! I curse my love...and yet I still love... Away! Away from this place that in my weakness I adore!

Delilah (approaching Samson) It is you, o my beloved! I was waiting for you! I forget, in seeing you, all the hours of suffering! Greetings, o my sweet master! Samson Enough of these raptures! I cannot listen to you without shame or remorse! Delilah Samson, o my beloved, why repulse my affection? Why from my scented brow turn away your caresses? Samson You were always dear to my heart, and cannot be banished from it! I should have liked to give up my life to a love which made me happy!

Delilah By my side, why these fears? Would you have doubted my heart? Are you not my master and my lord? Has love lost its delights for you? Samson Alas! The slave of my God, I submit to his holy will; we must, in a last farewell, fearlessly and uncomplainingly break the sweet bond of our love. Hope springs anew in Israel. The Lord has ordained the day of our deliverance! He hath said unto his servant: I have chosen thee from among thy brethren to lead them towards the Lord and to set a term to their sufferings. Delilah What matters to my disconsolate heart the fate of Israel and her glory? For me a vanished happiness is the sole fruit of your victory. Love led my reason astray when I believed your promises, and I have drunk nothing but poison by delighting in your caresses. Samson Ah! Stop torturing me! I am subject to a supreme law... Your tears revive my sorrow! Delilah! Delilah! I love you! (distant lightning) Delilah A god greater than yours, beloved, speaks to you through my mouth: it is the god of love, he is my god! And, if this remembrance moves you, recall to your heart those smiling days spent at the knees of a lover you promised to love always, and who alone, alas, is constant! Samson Foolish girl! To dare to accuse me when my whole being cries out for you! Yea, were I to be struck down by a thunderbolt, though I should perish in its flame, (lightning, nearer) my love for you is so great that I dare to love in spite of God himself! Yea! Though I should die of it one day, Delilah! Delilah! I love you!

Delilah My heart opens to your voice as the flowers open to dawn’s kisses! But, o my beloved, the better to dry my tears, let your voice speak once more! Tell me that you are coming back to Delilah for ever! Remind me once again of the promises of bygone days, those promises I loved! Ah! Answer my tenderness, fill me with ecstasy! Answer my tenderness, etc. Samson Delilah! Delilah! I love you! Delilah Like ears of corn rippling in the gentle breeze, so flutters my heart, ready to take comfort from your beloved voice! The arrow is less swift in carrying death than is your lover to fly into your arms! To fly into your arms! Ah! Answer my tenderness! Fill me with ecstasy! Answer my tenderness! etc. Samson With my kisses I long to dry your tears, and drive out the fears from your heart. I long to dry your tears! I long to dry your tears! Delilah! Delilah! I love you! (loud clap of thunder) Delilah But...no! What am I saying? Alas! Unhappy Delilah trusts not your words. Swaying my reason, you have already deceived me with your fickle promises!

Samson [You say this] when for you I dare to forget God, his glory, my people, and my vow! This God who set on me at birth the holy seal of his power! Delilah Well! Then understand my love. It is your God himself of whom I am jealous! This God who gave you birth, this God who consecrated your life! The vow that binds you to this God and makes you so formidable, to my love confide it! Drive out the distrust that burdens me! (distant thunder and lightning) Samson Delilah, what do you want of me? Beware lest I come to doubt you! Delilah If I still have power over you, I will put it to the test today. I want to prove your love, by demanding your trust. (lightning and thunder coming gradually nearer) Samson Alas! What does it matter to your happiness, the sacred bond that binds me, this secret hidden in my heart? Delilah By disclosing it, comfort my sorrow! Samson You are powerless to rob me of it! Delilah Yes! Empty is my power, for empty is your tenderness! When I would know it, this secret that frets me, and which I want to share, dare you, in your shameless and pitiless soul, accuse me of being unworthy? Samson Out of immense sorrow my poor overburdened spirit cries unto the Lord in a desolate voice.

Delilah I had adorned myself for him in all my youthful beauty! Nothing is left to me now but a resort to tears. Samson Almighty God, I call upon thine aid! Delilah I cannot bring myself to say these last farewells. Fly, Samson, fly from this place where your lover will die! Samson Let me go! Delilah Your secret? Samson I cannot. Delilah Your secret? This secret that frightens me? Samson The storm on these hills unleashes its wrath. Over our heads the Lord causes his thunder to roll. Delilah I’ll face it with you. Come to me! Samson No! Delilah Come to me! Samson Let me go! I cannot bring myself to... Delilah What care I for the thunderbolt!

Samson It is the voice of my God. Delilah Coward! Loveless heart, I despise you. Farewell! (Delilah runs towards her house; the storm is at its height. Samson, raising his arms to the sky, seems to invoke God. He rushes after Delilah, hesitates, and finally enters her house. Philistine soldiers enter from the right and quietly approach Delilah’s house. A violent clap of thunder. Delilah appears at her window:) To me, Philistines! This way! Samson Treachery! (The soldiers rush into Delilah’s house.)