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-mouthed,
And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds;
On both his wings, one black, the other white,
Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight.
My name perhaps among the circumcised,
In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering tribes,
To all posterity may stand defamed,
With malediction mentioned, and the blot
Of falsehood most unconjugal traduced.
But in my country, where I most desire,
In Ecron, Gaza, Asdod, 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
ὕβριν λαχοῦσαν καὶ στύγος μ ̓ ἀπήλασας,
φάτιν δύσορνιν δυσκλεᾶ τ ̓ ἐστιγμένην.
ἀφετέον οὖν σε τήν τε σὴν τύχην ἐμοὶ,
καὶ δὴ περισσὸν ὧν δέδρακ ̓ αὐτὴ ψόγον,
διχόστομος γὰρ, εἴ γε μὴ διχῶς βλέπει,
τὰ πλεῖστ ̓ ἐθώυξ ̓ ἀντιπνοῖς κηρύγμασι
φήμη, πτεροῖς δισσοῖσιν αἰωρουμένη
τὸ τῇδε λευκὴ, θάτερον μελάγχιμος,
καὶ τῶν μεγίστων ὀνόματ ̓ ἐκφέρει δίχα·
ὡς εἰκάσαι με, τοῖσι περιτετμημένοις
τοῖς τῇδε, κεἴ τις τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὅροις
ἔστ ̓ ἀγχιτέρμων, ἡ τάλαινα Δηλίλη
ἀπευκτὸς ἔσται κἀξάγιστος εἰσαεὶ,
χώς τοὺς γάμους προδοῦσα διαβεβλημένη.
ἐν δ ̓ οἶσιν ἔσται ταῦτά μοι μάλ ̓ ἀσμένῃ,
τοῖς ἀμφὶ Γάζην, ἔν τ ̓ Εκρωναίων πέδῳ,
κατ' Αστοδον Γάθην τε, τιμία γυνὴ
σεμνῶς ἑορτάζουσιν ὑμνηθήσομαι,
καὶ ζῶσα καὶ θανοῦσα μὴ λήθης τυχεῖν,
ὡς ἀντ ̓ ἔρωτος καὶ γαμηλίου λέχους
πόλιν, σέθεν πορθοῦντος ἀγρίᾳ χερὶ,
σώσασα, τυμβόχωστον εὔοδμον γάνος
With odours visited and annual flowers;
Jael, who with inhospitable guile
Not less renowned than in mount Ephraim
Smote Sisera sleeping, through the temples nailed.
Nor shall I count it heinous to enjoy
The public marks of honour and reward
Conferred upon me, for the piety
Which to my country I was judged to have shewn.
At this whoever envies or repines,
I leave him to his lot, and like my own.
She is gone, a manifest serpent by her sting,
Discovered in the end, till now concealed.
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 secrecy, my safety and my life.
Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,
After offence returning, to regain
Love once possessed, nor can be easily
Repulsed, without much inward passion felt,
ἀνθέων ἐτησίοισι καρποῦσθαι φοραῖς.
οὐ γάρ τι μᾶλλον Ἠφραημιτῶν χοροὶ
κλῄζουσ ̓ Ἰάλην, τὴν πάλαι κακόξενον
ἥλοις διανταίοισιν ὑπνῶσσον κάρα
τῷ Σισέρᾳ τρήσασαν, ἀθεμίστῳ δόλῳ·
οὐδ ̓ αἴσχρ ̓ ἔμοιγε τὰκ πόλεως ἡγήσομαι,
ἀλλ ̓ ἀντίμισθα τῶν πεπραγμένων γέρα,
ὡς θεοσεβής τε καὶ πάτρας εὐεργέτις.
τῆς ἧς τύχης ὂναιθ ̓, ὃς ἂν τούτων φθονοῖ,
ὡς αἰνεσάσης, οἷς συνεζεύχθην, ἐμοῦ.
αὐτόδηλος ὡς δράκαινα, τῶν μάλ' εὖ κεκρυμμένων ἐς τὰ νῦν κέντρων ἕκατι, φροῦδος ἐκ δόμων γυνή. ΣΑΜΨΩΝ.
οὐδ ̓ ἐμοῦγ ̓ ἄκοντός ἐστιν, ὅντιν ̓ αἰκίᾳ τόσῃ κάρτα μωρον ὄντ ̓ ἐλέγξων, τήνδ' ἐπίηλεν Θεὸς, τὴν ἔχιδναν, ᾗ τὸ κρυπτόν μοι παρηγγυημένον ῥύσιον γέρας παρῆκα, τὸν ἐμὸν ἐκρίψας βίον.
ἀλλ ̓ ὅμως δεινὸν σθένουσαν ἴσμεν εὔμορφον χάριν, δυσμενῆ τλᾶσαν κατελθεῖν, τόν τ ̓ ἔρωτα τὸν πάλαι ἀναφέρειν, τὸ δ ̓ οὔτις ἀνδρῶν ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐκβάλοι·
And secret sting of amorous remorse.
Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end,
Not wedlock-treachery endangering life.
It is not virtue, wisdom, valour, wit,
Strength, comeliness of shape, or amplest merit,
That woman's love can win or long inherit;
But what it is, hard is to say,
(Which way soever men refer it)
Much like thy riddle, Samson, in one day
Or seven, though one should musing sit.
If any of these, or all, the Timnian bride
Had not so soon preferred
Thy paranymph, worthless to thee compared,
Successor in thy bed,
Nor both so loosely disallied
Their nuptials, nor this last so treacherously
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