Unless there be who think not God at all;
If any be, they walk obscure;
For of such doctrine never was there school, But the heart of the fool,
And no man therein doctor but himself.
Yet more there be who doubt his ways not just,
As to his own edicts found contradicting,
Then give the reins to wandering thought, Regardless of his glory's diminution;
Till by their own perplexities involved
They ravel more, still less resolved,
But never find self-satisfying solution.
As if they would confine th' Interminable,
And tie him to his own prescript,
Who made our laws to bind us, not himself,
And hath full right to exempt
Whom so it pleases him by choice
From national obstriction, without taint
For with his own laws he can best dispense.
He would not else, who never wanted means, 315
Nor in respect of th' enemy just cause
To set his people free,
Have prompted this heroic Nazarite,
Against his vow of strictest purity,
To seek in marriage that fallacious bride,
Down reason then, at least vain reasonings down,
That moral verdict quits her of unclean:
Unchaste was subsequent; her stain, not his.
But see, here comes thy reverend sire With careful step, locks white as down, Old Manoah: advise
Forthwith how thou ought'st to receive him.
Sam. Ay me, another inward grief awaked With mention of that name renews th' assault. Man. Brethren and men of Dan, for such ye seen, Though in this uncouth place; if old respect,
319. Samson's vow as a Nazarite, obliged him to the most perfect observance of the whole Mosaical law, which he broke by his marriage with a Gentile woman.
As I suppose, towards your once glory'd friend, My son now captive, hither hath inform'd Your younger feet, while mine cast back with age Came lagging after; say if he be here?
Chor. As signal now in low dejected state, As erst in highest, behold him where he lies. Man. O miserable change! is this the man, That invincible Samson, far renown'd, The dread of Israel's foes, who with a strength Equivalent to angels walk'd their streets, None offering fight: who single combatant Duell'd their armies rank'd in proud array,. Himself an army, now unequal match To save himself against a coward arm'd At one spear's length? O ever-failing trust, Immortal strength! and oh what not in man Deceivable and vain? Nay, what thing good Pray'd for, but often proves our woe, our bane? I pray'd for children, and thought barrenness In wedlock a reproach; I gain'd a son, And such a son as all men hail'd me happy; Who would be now a father in my stead? O wherefore did God grant me my request, And as a blessing with such pomp adorn'd? Why are his gifts desirable, to tempt
Our earnest prayers, then, given with solemn hand
As graces, draw a scorpion's tail behind?
For this did th' angel twice descend? for this
Ordain'd thy nurture holy as of a plant Select, and sacred, glorious for a while, The miracle of men; then in an hour Insnared, assaulted, overcome, led bound, Thy foes' derision, captive, poor and blind, Into a dungeon thrust, to work with slaves? Alas, methinks whom God hath chosen once To worthiest deeds, if he through frailty eri, He should not so o'erwhelm, and as a thrall Subject him to so foul indignities
Be' it but for honour's sake of former deeds.
Sam. Appoint not heav'nly disposition, Father; Nothing of all these evils hath befall n mè
378. Appoint, arraign or summon to answer.
But justly; I myself have brought them on, Sole author I, sole cause: if aught seem vile, As vile hath been my folly, who have profaned The mystery of God giv'n me under pledge Of vow, and have betray'd it to a woman, A Canaanite, my faithless enemy. This well I knew, nor was at all surprised, But warn'd by oft experience: did not she Of Timna first betray me, and reveal The secret wrested from me in her highth Of nuptial love profess'd, carrying it straight To them who had corrupted her, my spies, And rivals? In this other was there found More faith, who also in her prime of love, Spousal embraces, vitiated with gold,
Though offer'd only, by the scent conceived Her spurious first-born, treason against me? Thrice she assay'd with flattering pray'rs and sighs, And amorous reproaches, to win from me
My capital secret, in what part my strength [know; Lay stored, in what part summ'd, that she might Thrice I deluded her, and turn'd to sport Her importunity, each time perceiving How openly, and with what impudence
She purposed to betray me, and (which was worse Than undissembled hate) with what contempt She sought to make me traitor to myself; Yet the fourth time, when must'ring all her wiles, With blandish'd parleys, feminine assaults, Tongue-batteries, she surceased not day nor night To storm me over-watch'd, and weary'd out, At times when men seek most repose and rest, I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart, Who with a grain of manhood well resolved Might easily have shook off all her snares; But foul effeminacy held me yoked Her bond-slave; ( indignity, O blot To honour and religion! servile mind Rewarded well with servile punishment!
The base degree to which I now am fallen, These rags, this grinding is not yet so base As was my former servitude ignoble, Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,
True slavery, and that blindness worse than this, That saw not how degenerately I served.
Man. I cannot praise thy marriage choices, Son, Rather approved them not; but thou didst plead Divine impulsion prompting how thou might'st Find some occasion to infest our foes.
I state not that; this I am sure, our foes Found soon occasion thereby to make thee
Their captive, and their triumph; thou the sooner Temptation found'st, or over-potent charms
To violate the sacred trust of silence
Deposited within thee; which to have kept
Tacit was in thy power: true; and thou bear'st 430 Enough, and more, the burden of that fault; Bitterly hast thou paid, and still art paying That rigid score. A worse thing yet remains : This day the Philistines a popular feast Here celebrate in Gaza; and proclaim Great pomp and sacrifice, and praises loud To Dagon, as their god who hath deliver'd Thee, Samson, bound and blind into their hands, Them out of thine, who slew'st them many a slain. So Dagon shall be magnified, and God, Besides whom is no god, compared with idols Disglorified, blasphemed, and had in scorn By the idolatrous rout amidst their wine; Which to have come to pass by means of thee, Samson, of all thy sufferings think the heaviest, 415 Of all reproach the most with shame that ever Could have befallen thee and thy father's house. Sam. Father, I do acknowledge and confess That I this honour, I this pomp, have brought To Dagon, and advanced his praises high Among the Heathen 'round; to God have brought Dishonour, obloquy, and oped the mouths Of idolists, and atheists; have brought scandal
To Israel, diffidence of God, and doubt
In feeble hearts, propense enough before To waver, or fall off and join with idols; Which is my chief affliction, shame and sorrow, The anguish of my soul, that suffers not Mine eye to harbour sleep, or thoughts to rest. This only hope relieves me, that the strife
With me hath end; all the contést is now
'Twixt God and Dagon; Dagon hath presumed, Me overthrown, to enter lists with God, His deity comparing and preferring Before the God of Abraham.
Will not connive, or linger, thus provoked, But will arise and his great name assert: Dagon must stoop, and shall ere long receive Such a discomfit, as shall quite despoil him Of all these boasted trophies won on me, And with confusion blank his worshippers.
Man. With cause this hope relieves thee, and these
I as a prophecy receive; for God,
Nothing more certain, will not long defer
To vindicate the glory of his name
Against all competition, nor will long Endure it doubtful whether God be Lord,
Or Dagon. But for thee what shall be done? Thou must not in the meanwhile here forgot Lie in this miserable loathsome plight Neglected. I already have made way To some Philistian lords, with whom to treat About thy ransom: well they may by this Have satisfied their utmost of revenge
By pains and slaveries, worse than death inflicted
On thee, who now no more canst do them harm. 486
Sum. Spare that proposal, Father, spare the trouble Of that solicitation; let me here,
As I deserve, pay on my punishment; And expiate, if possible, my crime, Shameful garrulity. To have reveal'd
Secrets of men, the secrets of a friend,
How heinous had the fact beeu, how deserving
Contempt, and scorn of all, to be excluded
All friendship, and avoided as a blab,
The mark of fool set on his front?
But I God's counsel have not kept, his holy secret Presumptuously have publish'd impiously,
Weakly at least, and shamefully: a sin
That Gentiles in their parables condemn
500. The allusion is to the story of Tantalus, who it is said revealed the secrets of the gods, and was for that condemned to Dunishment in the inferual regions.
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