Their daily practice, to afflict me more. Enter CHORUS. Chor. This, this is he; softly awhile; O change beyond report, thought, or belief! As one past hope, abandon'd, "And by himself given over; In slavish habit, ill-fitted weeds Or do my eyes misrepresent? Can this be he, Irresistible Samson? whom unarm'd [withstand; And, weaponless himself, Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd cuirass, Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail, Adamantean proof? But safest he who stood aloof, When insupportably his foot advanced, In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools, Fled from his lion ramp; old warriors turn'd [nite The jaw of a dead ass, his sword of bone, A thousand fore-skins fell, the flower of Palestine, In Ramath-lechi, famous to this day. [bore Then by main force pull'd up, and on his shoulders The gates of Azza, post, and massy bar, Up to the hill by Hebron, seat of giants old, Like whom the Gentiles feign to bear up heaven. Thy bondage or lost sight, Inseparably dark? Thou art become (0 worst imprisonment!) The dungeon of thyself; thy soul, (Which men enjoying sight oft without cause com Imprison'd now indeed, In real darkness of the body dwells, Shut up from outward light To incorporate with gloomy night; Puts forth no visual beam. O mirror of our fickle state, The rarer thy example stands, [plain,) By how much from the top of wondrous glory, To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fallen. Whom long descent of birth, Or the sphere of fortune raises; [mate, But thee, whose strength, while virtue was her Might have subdued the earth, Universally crown'd with highest praises. Sam. I hear the sound of words; their sense the Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear. [air Chor. He speaks: let us draw nigh. Matchless The glory late of Israel, now the grief; [in might, We come, thy friends and neighbours not unknown, From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale, To visit or bewail thee; or, if better, Salve to thy sores: apt words have power to 'suage And are as balm to fester'd wounds. [learn Sam. Your coming, friends, revives me; for I Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me, In Are come upon him his deserts? yet why? At least of thy own nation, and as noble. Sam. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleased 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 urged 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, (0 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, [ness!) Who, vanquish'd with a peal of words, (0 weak Gave up my fort of silence to a woman. Chor. In seeking just occasion to provoke Thou never wast remiss, I bear thee witness: Sam. That fault I take not on me, but transfer Used no ambition to commend my deeds; [doer; Safe to the rock of Etham was retired; |