Strongest of mortal men,

To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fal For him I reckon not in high estate,

Whom long descent of birth

Or the sphere of fortune raises :

But thee, whose strength, while virtue was her n Might have subdued the earth,

Universally crown'd with highest praises. SAMS. I hear the sound of words, their sens Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear.

CHOR. He speaks, let us draw nigh. Matc The glory late of Israel, now the grief, [in mi We come, thy friends and neighbours not unkn From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale, To visit or bewail thee, or, if better, Counsel or consolation we may bring, Salve to thy sores: apt words have power to sv The tumours of a troubled mind,

And are as balm to fester'd wounds.

179 glory] Fletcher's Pisc. Eclogues, 1633, p. 27. glory late, but now his shame.' Todd.

184 Salve to thy sores] This is one of the most commo pressions in old English poetry. See Southwell's Mæ p. 21. Park's note to Heliconia, Part 1, p. 186. lingsley's Divine Raptures, p. 67. Smith's Chloris, Byrd's Psalms, p. 11. Lydgate's Troy, p. 220. Gascoi Works, p. 14. 177. 230. 247. Beaumont's Psyche, c. st. 225; and Ellis's Specimens, ii. p. 15.

184

i. 34.

apt words] Esch. Prom. Vinct. ver. 377. Hor. Ep

'Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem
Possis, et magnam morbi deponere partem.'
Thyer and New

190

SAMS. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I Now of my own experience, not by talk, [learn How counterfeit a coin they are who friends Bear in their superscription, of the most I would be understood; in prosperous days They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head, Not to be found, though sought. Ye see, O friends, How many evils have inclos'd me round;

200

Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,
Blindness, for had I sight, confus'd with shame,
How could I once look up, or heave the head,
Who, like a foolish pilot, have shipwreck'd
My vessel trusted to me from above,
Gloriously rigg'd; and for a word, a tear,
Fool, have divulged the secret gift of God
To a deceitful woman? tell me, friends,
Am I not sung and proverb'd for a fool
In every street? do they not say, how well
Are come upon him his deserts? yet why?
Immeasurable strength they might behold
In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean;
This with the other should, at least, have pair'd,
These two proportion'd ill drove me transverse.

205

CHOR. Tax not divine disposal: wisest men 210 Have err'd, and by bad women been deceiv'd; And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise. Deject not then so overmuch thyself, Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides ; Yet, truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder 215 Why thou shouldst wed Philistian women rather

Than of thine own tribe fairer, or as fair,
At least of thy own nation, and as noble.

SAMS. The first I saw at Timna, and she pl
Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed
The daughter of an infidel. They knew not
That what I motion'd was of God; I knew
From intimate impulse, and therefore urg'd
The marriage on; that by occasion hence
I might begin Israel's deliverance,
The work to which I was divinely call'd.
She proving false, the next I took to wife,
O that I never had! fond wish too late!
Was in the vale of Sorec, Dalila,
That specious monster, my accomplish'd snare
I thought it lawful from my former act,
And the same end, still watching to oppress
Israel's oppressors.
Of what now I suffer
She was not the prime cause, but I myself,
Who, vanquish'd with a peal of words, O weakn
Gave up my fort of silence to a woman.

CHOR. In seeking just occasion to provoke
The Philistine, thy country's enemy,
Thou never wast remiss, I bear thee witness:
Yet Israel still serves with all his sons.

SAMS. That fault I take not on me, but trans
On Israel's governors, and heads of tribes,
Who, seeing those great acts which God had do
Singly by me against their conquerors,
Acknowledg'd not, or not at all consider'd
Deliverance offer'd. I on the other side

Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds, [doer;
The deeds themselves, tho' mute, spoke loud the
But they persisted deaf, and would not seem
To count them things worth notice, till at length
Their lords the Philistines with gather'd powers
Enter'd Judea seeking me, who then

Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd,
Not flying, but forecasting in what place
To set upon them, what advantag'd best.
Meanwhile the men of Judah, to prevent
The harass of their land, beset me round;
I willingly on some conditions came
Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me
To the uncircumcis'd a welcome prey,

Bound with two cords: but cords to me were

threads

255

260

Touch'd with the flame. On their whole host I flew
Unarm'd, and with a trivial weapon fell'd
Their choicest youth; they only liv'd who fled.
Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole tribe, 265
They had by this possess'd the towers of Gath,
And lorded over them whom now they serve:
But what more oft in nations grown corrupt,
And by their vices brought to servitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty;
And to despise, or envy, or suspect
Whom God hath of his special favour rais'd

270

18

SAMSON AGONISTES.

As their deliverer? If he aught begin, How frequent to desert him, and at last To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?

CHOR. Thy words to my remembrance
How Succoth and the fort of Penuel
Their great deliverer contemn'd,
The matchless Gideon in pursuit
Of Madian and her vanquish'd kings:
And how ingrateful Ephraim

Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argumen
Not worse than by his shield and spear,
Defended Israel from the Ammonite,
Had not his prowess quell'd their pride
In that sore battle, when so many died
Without reprieve adjudg'd to death,
For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.
SAMS. Of such examples add me to the ro
Me easily indeed mine may neglect,
But God's propos'd deliverance not so.
CHOR. Just are the ways of God,

And justifiable to men ;

Unless there be who think not God at all : If any be, they walk obscure;

For of such doctrine never was there school But the heart of the fool,

And no man therein doctor but himself.

Yet more there be who doubt his ways no As to his own edicts found contradicting, Then give the reins to wand'ring thought, Regardless of his glory's diminution;