What sieges girt me round, ere I consented;
Which might have awed the best-resolved of
The constantest to' have yielded without blame.
It was not gold, as to my charge thou lay'st,
That wrought with me. Thou know'st the magis-
And princes of my country came in person,
Solicited, commanded, threaten'd, urged
Adjured by all the bonds of civil duty
And of religion, press'd how just it was,
How honorable, how glorious, to' entrap
A common enemy, who had destroy'd
Such numbers of our nation: and the priest
Was not behind, but ever at my ear,
Preaching how meritorious with the gods
It would be to ensnare an irreligious
Dishonorer of Dagon: what had I
To' oppose against such powerful arguments?
Only my love of thee held long debate,
And combated in silence all these reasons
With hard contést: at length that grounded maxim,
So rife and celebrated in the mouths
Of wisest men, that to the public good
Private respects must yield, with grave authority
Took full possession of me, and prevail'd;
Virtue, as I thought, truth, duty so enjoining.
SAM. I thought where all thy circling wiles would
In feign'd religion, smooth hypocrisy ! [end;
But had thy love, still odiously pretended, [thee
Been, as it ought, sincere, it would have taught
Far other reasonings, brought forth other deeds.
I, before all the daughters of my tribe
And of my nation, chose thee from among
My enemies, loved thee, as too well thou knew'st;
Too well; unbosom'd all my secrets to thee,
Not out of levity, but overpower'd
By thy request, who could deny thee nothing;
Yet now am judged an enemy. Why then
Didst thou at first receive me for thy husband,
Then, as since then, thy country's foe profess'd?
Being once a wife, for me thou wast to leave
Parents and country: nor was I their subject,
Nor under their protection, but my own,
Thou mine, not theirs. If aught against my life
Thy country sought of thee, it sought unjustly,
Against the law of nature, law of nations;
No more thy country, but an impious crew
Of men conspiring to uphold their state
By worse than hostile deeds, violating the ends
For which our country is a name so dear;
Not therefore to be' obey'd. But zeal moved thee;
To please thy gods thou didst it; gods unable
To' acquit themselves and prosecute their foes,
But by ungodly deeds, the contradiction
Of their own deity, gods cannot be ;
Less therefore to be pleased, obey'd, or fear'd.
These false pretexts and varnish'd colors failing,
Bare in thy guilt, how foul must thou appear!
DAL. In argument with men, a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.
SAM. For want of words no doubt, or lack of breath;
Witness when I was worried with thy peals.
DAL. I was a fool, too rash, and quite mistaken In what I thought would have succeeded best. Let me obtain forgiveness of thee, Samson! Afford me place to show what recompense Towards thee' I intend for what I have misdone,
Misguided: only what remains past cure
Bear not too sensibly, nor still insist
To' afflict thyself in vain. Though sight be lost,
Life yet hath many solaces, enjoy'd
Where other senses want not their delights,
At home in leisure and domestic ease,
Exempt from many a care and chance to which
Eye-sight exposes daily men abroad.
I to the Lords will intercede, not doubting
Their favorable ear, that I may fetch thee
From forth this loathsome prison-house, to' abide
With me, where my redoubled love and care
With nursing diligence, to me glad office,
May ever tend about thee to old age
With all things grateful cheer'd, and so supplied, That, what by me thou' hast lost, thou least shalt miss.
SAM. No, no! of my condition take no care; It fits not; thou and I long since are twain: Nor think me so unwary or accursed
To bring my feet again into the snare
Where once I have been caught. I know thy trains,
Though dearly to my cost, thy gins and toils :
Thy fair enchanted cup, and warbling charms
No more on me have power; their force is null'd;
So much of adder's wisdom I have learn'd,
To fence my ear against thy sorceries.
If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men Loved, honor'd, fear'd me, thou alone couldst hate me
Thy husband, slight me, sell me, and forego me; How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby Deceiveable, in most things as a child
Helpless, thence easily contemn'd, and scorn'd,
And last neglected! How wouldst thou insult,
When I must live uxorious to thy will
In perfect thraldom! how again betray me,
Bear my words and doings to the lords
To gloss upon, and, censuring, frown or smile!
This jail I count the house of liberty
To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter.
DAL. Let me approach at least, and touch thy
hand.
[wake
SAM. Not for thy life, lest fierce remembrance
My sudden rage to tear thee joint by joint.
At distance I forgive thee: go with that!
Bewail thy falsehood, and the pious works
It hath brought forth to make thee memorable
Among illustrious women, faithful wives!
Cherish thy hasten'd widowhood with the gold
Of matrimonial treason! so farewell!
DAL. I see thou art implacable, more deaf
To prayers than winds and seas; yet winds to seas
Are reconciled at length, and sea to shore:
Thy anger, unappeasable, still rages,
Eternal tempest, never to be calm'd.
Why do I humble thus myself, and, suing
For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate;
Bid go with evil omen, and the brand
Of infamy upon my name denounced?
To mix with thy concernments I desist
Henceforth, nor too much disapprove my own.
Fame, if not double-faced, is double-mouth'd,
And with contráry blast proclaims most deeds;
On both his wings, one black, the other white,
Bears greatest names in his wild airy flight.
My name perhaps among the circumcised
In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering tribes,
To all posterity may stand defamed,
With malediction mention'd, and the blot
Of falsehood most unconjugal traduced.
But in my country, where I most desire,
In Ecron, Gaza, Ashdod, and in Gath,
I shall be named among the famousest
Of women, sung at solemn festivals,
Living and dead recorded, who to save
Her country from a fierce destroyer chose
Above the faith of wedlock-bands; my tomb
With odors visited and annual flowers;
Not less renown'd than in Mount Ephraim
Jael, who with inhospitable guile
Smote Sisera sleeping, through the temples nail'd.
Nor shall I count it heinous to enjoy
The public marks of honor and reward,
Conferr'd upon me for the piety
Which to my country I was judged to' have shown.
At this whoever envies or repines,
I leave him to his lot, and like my own.
CHO. She's gone, a manifest serpent by her sting
Discover'd in the end, till now conceal'd.
SAM. So let her go; God sent her to debase me, And aggravate my folly, who committed
To such a viper his most sacred trust
Of secresy, my safety, and my life.
CHO. Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange
After offence returning, to regain
Love once possess'd, nor can be easily
Repulsed, without much inward passion felt
And secret sting of amorous remorse.
SAM. Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end,
Not wedlock-treachery endangering life.
CHO. It is not virtue, wisdom, valor, wit,
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