Hid in her vacant interlunar cave. That light is in the soul, She all in every part; why was the sight 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! 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, 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, 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, 140 Or groveling soil'd their crested helmets in the dust. 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. 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, 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 200 Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me, 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. 210 215 Sam. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleased Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed 220 225 That specious monster, my accomplish'd snare. 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 255 Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me 260 Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threads 270 275 Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument, 285 Had not his prowess quell'd their pride Sam. Of such examples add me to the roll, Me easily indeed mine may neglect, And justifiable to men; 290 |