6 Let his left hand be under my head,

And his right hand support me!

7 I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles, or the hinds of the field, [[144]]

Neither to excite nor to incite my affection

Till it wishes another love.

[[Contents]]

SECTION II.

CHAPTER II. 8–III. 5.

Here we have a second scene, which is also in the royal tent. The speakers are the Shulamite and the court ladies. The Shulamite, to account for the cause of the severity of her brothers, mentioned in ii. 6, relates that her beloved shepherd came one charming morning in the spring to invite her to the fields (8–14); that her brothers, in order to prevent her from going, gave her employment in the gardens (15); that she consoled herself with the assurance that her beloved, though separated from her at that time, would come again in the evening (16, 17); that seeing he did not come, she, under difficult circumstances, ventured to seek him, and found him (ch. iii. 1–4). Having narrated these events, and reiterated her ardent affection for her beloved, she concludes as before, by adjuring the court ladies not to persuade her to change her love.