Crassus. 
                        Mystify me, girl! 
It is the right of an elf. 
Surely your flickering fire
Will draw me to some mire!

Alicia. 
Here the stream dips its mouth into the wood. 
So does youth’s calm and chaste beatitude
Touch the black mouth of Love, the ancient whore.

Crassus. 
Girl! what a scorpion leaping from your lips!

Alicia. 
My mouth stings as no scorpion ever stang.
in this round impudent smiling face of mine
There is a poison fiercer than all wine;
And from these eyes more subtle sorrows pour
Than you can dream.  These teeth have been at grips
With gods; I have sung what no girl ever sang. 
These ears have heard
An insufferable word!

Crassus. 
What do you mean?

Alicia. 
                        The secret’s in a kiss. 
Here are no kisses.  Here great Artemis
Rules; only in the woodland may a man
Hide his eyes from her, pledge himself to Pan. 
Come! through the tangled arches
Of cypresses and larches,
Stoop; under Artemis we walked upright;
But this is Pan’s home, and the House of Night.
                        [They enter the wood.]

Crassus. 
So when I stoop, my cheek comes close to yours. 
Give me a kiss.

Alicia. 
The poisonous apple lures
Thus the boy’s mouth.  Beware!

Crassus. 
O you are fair! 
Fairer than ever!  In this tangle of trees
Your hot breath wraps you in perfume.

Alicia. 
There is some gloom or doom,
A bitter harsh ingredient
In these my sorceries
Of animal scent.

Crassus. 
Yes! there is fear mixed with the fascination. 
It is the reverence that chastity, be sure! 
Gains from the impure.

Alicia. 
O virtuous nation! 
It is the fear of the uninitiate
Before the throne of Fate
The hierophant.

Crassus. 
Kiss me, however!

Alicia. 
Did I grant
This favour, all were lost.  It is your truth
To Adela that tempts my youth.
                [Henceforth Alicia shakes with silent laughter.]

Crassus. 
What little breasts you have!

Alicia. 
Ay, maiden breasts! 
Would you betray my oath?

Crassus. 
My will contests
My wishes.

Alicia. 
Wait, and you shall surely see
Part of the secret that ensorcels me. 
See all these bosses!  It is not
As if a Titan smote himself into the earth,
And was caught into her, made one with her?

Crassus. 
The scent is fierce and hot
Like a rutting panther’s slot. 
Yet you are matched with mirth,
Shaking each other like two wrestlers.

Alicia. 
What should stir
Your melancholy but laughter?