“When the maids
Had gone out,
The two elders
Got up.
They ran to her.
They said.
‘Look!
The garden doors
Are shut!
No one can see us!
We are burning
With desire
For you!
Give your consent!
Lie with us!
If you refuse,
We will testify
Against you
That a young man
Was with you.
This was why
You sent your maids away.’”
The two elder judges seized the moment, once the maids were gone. They jumped up from their hiding place and ran over to the bathing Susanna. They made their proposition. They told Susanna that they were burning with desire for her, as if that was a good pitch. They wanted her to consent to have sex with them. They wanted consensual sex rather than rape her. However, they told her that if see did not agree, then they would testify against her. They were going to say that she sent her maids away, so that she could have sex with a non-existent young man. That was the deal, sex with them or be judged by them as committing adultery with someone else. What a strange choice.