Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.
Since light so necessary is to life,
And almost life itself, if it be true

That light is in the soul,

She all in every part; why was the sight
To such a tender ball as th' eye confined,

90

So obvious and so easy to be quench'd?

95

And not, as feeling, through all parts diffused,

That she might look at will through every pore!
Then had I not been thus exiled from light,
As in the land of darkness yet in light,
To live a life half dead, a living death,

100

And bury'd but O yet more miserable!

Myself my sepulchre, a moving grave,

Bury'd, yet not exempt

By privilege of death and burial

From worst of other evils, pains and wrongs,

105

But who are these? for with joint pace I hear

110

The tread of many feet steering this way;

Perhaps my enemies, who come to stare

At my affliction, and perhaps t' insult,
Their daily practice, to afflict me more.

Chor. This, this is he; softly a while,

115

Let us not break in upon him;

O change beyond report, thought, or belief!

See how he lies at random, carelessly diffused,

Or do my eyes misrepresent? Can this be he,
That heroic, that renown'd,

125

Irresistible Samson? whom unarm'd

[stand;

No strength of man, or fiercest wild beast, could with

Who tore the lion, as the lion tears the kid,

Ran on embattled armies clad in iron,

118. Diffused, a classical expression very frequently used to describe the languid posture of a weary person.

And, weaponless himself,

Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery

130

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,

135

In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools,
Spurn'd them to death by troops. The bold Ascalonite,
Fled from his lion ramp, old warriors turn'd
Their plated backs under his heel;

140

Or groveling soil'd their crested helmets in the dust.
Then with what trivial weapon came to hand,
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.

145

Then by main force pull'd up, and on his shoulders

The gates of Azza, post, and massy bar,

[bore

Up to the hill by Hebron, seat of giants old,

No journey of a sabbath-day; and loaded so,

Like whom the Gentiles feign to bear up Heaven. Which shall I first bewail,

151

To incorporate with gloomy night;

For inward light, alas!

Puts forth no visual beam.

O mirror of our fickle state,

Since man on earth unparallel'd!

105

The rarer thy example stands,

By how much from the top of wondrous glory,

147

133. The Chalybes were celebrated for their skill in

tempering steel.

136. Speuser's Faery Queene, B. 1. Can. 7. St. 11.

138. 1 Sam. vi. 17.

Azza for Gaza, to avoid the abiteration of gates and Gaza. 148. Josh. xv. 13, 14. Num. xiii. 33.

e

Strongest of mortal men,

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

Whom long descent of birth

Or the sphere of fortune raises;

170

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

Universally crown'd with highest praises.

175

Sam. I hear the sounds of words; their sense the Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear.

[air

Chor. He speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless in The glory late of Israel, now the grief; We come thy friends and neighbours not unknown From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale,

[might,

181

To visit or bewail thee; or, if better,
Counsel or consolation we may bring,
Salve to thy sores; apt words have power to swage
The tumours of a troubled mind,
And are as balm to fester'd wounds.

185

Sam. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I learn Now of my own experience, not by talk,

190

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 inclosed me round;

200

Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,
Blindness, for had I sight, confused with shame, 196
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,

205

181. Eshtaol and Zora, two towns belonging to the tribe of ban. Josh. xix. 41. Judg. xiii. 2. 25. Josh, xv. 33.

These two proportion'd ill drove me transverse.
Chor. Tax not divine disposal; wisest men
Have err'd, 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 shouldst wed Philistian women rather
Than of thine own tribe fairer, or as fair,
At least of thy own nation, and as noble.

210

215

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,

220

225

That specious monster, my accomplish'd snare.
I thought it lawful from my former act,
And the same end; still watching to oppress

230

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 weakness!)

Gave up my fort of silence to a woman.

230

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.

240

Sam. That fault I take not on me, but transfer

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 consider'd Deliverance offer'd: I on the other side

245

[doer;

Used no ambition to commend my deeds,

The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the

But they persisted deaf, and would not seem

To count them things worth notice, till at length 250 Their lords the Philistines with gather'd powers

R

Eater'd 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

255

Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me
To the uncircumcised a welcome prey,

260

Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threads
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 lived 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 they now 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 raised
As their deliverer; if he aught begin,
How frequent to desert him, and at last

270

275

Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument,
Not worse than by his shield and spear,
Defended Israel from the Ammonite,

285

Had not his prowess quell'd their pride
In that sore battle, when so many died
Without reprieve adjudged to death,
For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.

Sam. Of such examples add me to the roll,

Me easily indeed mine may neglect,
But God's proposed deliverance not so.
Chor. Just are the ways of God,

And justifiable to men;

290