(The Shulamite looks scornfully at him.)
Solomon
Thou art beautiful as Tirzah, my love, and comely as Jerusalem, but terrible as an army in battle. Turn thine eyes away. They trouble me....
The Shepherd
(from without.)
There are sixty queens, eighty favorites, and numberless young girls. But among them all my immaculate dove is unique, she is the darling of her mother. The young girls have seen her and called her blessed. The queens and the favorites have praised her.
The Chorus
(astonished at the Shulamite’s scorn of the King.)
Who is it that is beautiful as Tirzah but terrible as an army in battle?
The Shulamite
(impatiently turning her back, and relating again her abduction.)
I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the green plants in the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower. But before I was aware of it, I was among the chariots of my princely people.
The Chorus