She turns her lustrous black eyes upon him as she hails him a double victor over 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.