My vessel, trusted to me from above,
Gloriously rigged; 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 proverbed 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 paired,
These two, proportioned ill, drove me transverse.
Tax not divine disposal; wisest men
Have erred, and by bad women been deceived;
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
Why thou should'st wed Philistian women rather
Than of thine own tribe, fairer or as fair,
At least of thine own nation, and as noble.
τὸ καλλίπρωρον θεόδοτον σκάφος τόδε
βύθοις ἐπόντισ ̓, αἰόλων ἥσσων λόγων
οἰμωγμάτων τε, κρυπτὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ γέρας
γυναικοβούλοις ἀποβαλεῖν σοφίσμασιν.
ἆρ ̓ οὐ γελαστὸς τῶνδ ̓ ἀκούσομαι, φίλοι,
ᾠδὴς παρασχὼν πᾶσι καὶ παροιμίαν ;
“ δράσας δ', ἀντίποινα καὶ πάσχει, καλῶς.
τί γάρ; σθένος με κάρθ ̓ ὑπερβαλόντ' ἰδεῖν
ὑπῆρχε, σοφίαν δ ̓ οὐδαμῶς ἰσόῤῥοπον.
ἔδει γε ταύτην ἀντισηκώσαντ ̓ ἔχειν,
ἀξυμμέτρω δὲ τώδ ̓ ὁδοῦ μ ̓ ἐξήλασαν.
μὴ δὴ Θεῷ πρέπει σε μέμψασθαι νόμων.
πταίσαντας ἴσμεν πρὸς γυναικείοις δόλοις
σοφίαν γε τοὺς μάλιστα προσποιουμένους,
μέλλουσι δ ̓ αὖθις· τὴν δ ̓ ἄγαν ἀλγηδόνα
μὴ προστίθεσθαι τῶν ἐνεστώτων βάρει.
ὅμως δὲ, ποίαν σκῆψιν οὐδ ̓ Ἑβραϊκὴν
γάμοις προῃροῦ, μὴ τυχὼν ἐμφυλίας,
τό γ' εὐγενές τε τήν τε πρώθηβον χάριν
οὐκ ἐλλιποῦσαν τῶν Φιλιστίνων, κόρην,
θαῦμ ̓ ἐστὶ κοινὸν, οὐδ ̓ ἂν ἀντείποιμ ̓ ἐγώ.
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 motioned 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 called.
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 accomplished 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, vanquished with a peal of words-O weakness !Gave up my fort of silence to a woman.
In seeking just occasion to provoke
The Philistine, thy country's enemy,
Τιμνῖτις ἦν μὲν, ἧς τὸ πρῶτον ἠράμην.
ἡ δ ̓ οὐκ ἔμελλε τοῖς ἐμοῖσιν ἁνδάνειν
τοκεύσιν, ὡς ἄσεπτος, ἀγνοοῦσι δὴ
ἐν τοῖσδε μοιρόκραντον ἐκ Θεοῦ νόμον.
τὸ δ ̓ αὐτὸς εἰδὼς, τῶν γάμων ἀντειχόμην.
ὁρμαῖς φρενῶν γὰρ ἐμφύτοις πέποιθ ̓ ἀεὶ,
καὶ τοῖς πολίταις ταῦτα τῆς σωτηρίας
προοίμι ̓ εἶναι, θεόθεν ἔργον ἀμφέπων·
ἐψευσμένος δὲ τῆσδε, δευτέροις γάμοις
τὴν ἐκ Σόρηκος, Δηλίλην, προσηγόμην,
τὴν εὐπρόσωπον, θρέμμα μοι δολοπλόκον·
ὡς ὤφελον δὲ καίριος γνῶναι τόδε
ἔδοξα δ ̓ ὀρθῶς ἀνανεώσασθαι τὰ πρὶν
πραχθέντ ̓ ἀεὶ γὰρ τοῦδ ̓ ἐπειρώμην, ὅπως
τοὺς ἡμὶν ἐχθροὺς ἀντιδρᾶν ἔχοιμί τι.
οὐχ ἡ γυνή μοι τῶν κακῶν παναιτία,
αὐτὸς δ' ἐμαυτῷ, βοῦν ἀπὸ γλώσσης βαλών.
θήλεια κραυγὴ κατεπάλαισέ μ ̓ ἐκνόμως.
ὡς αἰὲν ἐχθρὸς τῆς πάτρας ἐχθροῖς γεγώς,
Thou never wast remiss, I bear thee witness;
Yet Israël still serves with all his sons.
That fault I take not on me, but trans fer
On Israel's governors, and heads of tribes;
Who, seeing those great acts which God had done
Singly by me against their conquerors,
Acknowledged not, or not at all considered,
Deliverance offered. I, on the other side,
Used no ambition to commend my deeds;
The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the doer.
But they persisted deaf, and would not seem
To count them things worth notice; till at length
Their lords the Philistines, with gathered powers,
Entered Judea seeking me, who then
Safe to the rock of Etham was retired;
Not flying, but forecasting in what place
To set upon them, what advantaged 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 yielded me
To the uncircumcised a welcome prey,
Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threads
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