for whom one breathes, to whom one confesses, Someone for whom one lives and for whom one dies, And is there when one grows cold to close one's eyes and fold one's hands, Yes that would be good." Morosus also loves his nephew Henry (whom he had thought dead): he would be happy to live with Henry and treat him as his son. When Henry arrives, Sir Morosus says: "My house, my fortune are his. Everything. Now I do not need a bride...neither mute or silent." He disinherits Henry in a fit of anger when he realizes Henry is married to an opera singer and decides to follow the Barber's earlier advice and marry a silent woman. However, even after he falls in love with "Timidia", he asks her if she really wants marriage: he is too old for her. Midway in Act II before the "marriage" he advises Aminta to think carefully: "Child, listen to me! An old man is only half a man. His best half is in the past. His eye has long become sated with what he has seen, his heart is tired and beats softly. There is a frost deep in his blood and it lames the joy of living, And because he himself is stiff and cold, the entire world seems old. There is only one thing he has over youth: An old man is better able to be thankful." After the marriage, he displays such tenderness and concern that Aminta is very moved and wishes she did not have to go through the charade. The second major change is that in Jonson, the silent woman "Epicoene" is in fact a boy. Zweig has the silent woman as Henry's wife Aminta. Aminta herself is a major character in the opera. She shows her love and devotion to Henry by offering to leave Henry so that he can inherit his uncle's wealth. She also wants to love Sir Morosus as a father-in-law and finds it difficult to treat him badly. At the heart of Act 2, just before the sham marriage, "Timidia" speaks to Morosus: "Oh Lord, I swear by the holy sacrament: I feel I could be truly fond of you As one piously loves and honours a father, as one who has given me the best in life. Whatever I do, even if at first it seems strangely hostile I swear to you: