We come, thy friends and neighbours not unknown, 180
From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale,
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 festered wounds.
Your coming, friends, revives me; for I learn
Now of my own experience, not by talk,
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 enclosed me round;
Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,
Blindness for had I sight, confused with shame,
How could I once look up, or heave the head?
Who, like a foolish pilot, have shipwrecked
νῦν τούμπαλιν δακρυτὸς, ἥκομεν σέθεν
φίλοι τ ̓ ἀπ ̓ οἰκείων τε γείτονες τόπων,
Ἐσητάλου Ζώρας τε, παμφόρου πέδου,
σοὶ δηξιθύμων συστενάξοντες πόνων.
ἀλλ ̓ εἴ τι τῶνδε κρεῖσσόν ἐστι συμβαλεῖν
παρηγοροῦντας ἢ παραινοῦντας, τόδε
τύχοις ἂν ἡμῶν, βουκολούμενος πάθη.
ἔστ ̓ εὐεπείᾳ παρακόπους κηλεῖν φρένας,
ἕλκη τις ὡς ἔθελξεν ἐξηνθηκότα.
ζωήν τιν', ὑμῶν μοι προσελθόντων, νέαν
ξύνοιδα, κιβδήλου δὲ παράσημον τύπου
κόμμ ̓ ἐγχαραχθὲν οἷς τὰ πλεῖστ ̓ εἶχον φίλοις.
εὐπραξίαις συχνός τις, ἐν τροπαῖς χρόνων
ἀπῴχετ ̓, οὐδ ̓ εὕροι τις ἂν μακρῷ πόνῳ.
ὁρᾶτέ μ', οἷα πάντοθεν πάσχω κακά.
ὃ δ ̓ ἦν κάκιστον, τοῦδ ̓ ἔτ ̓ οὐκ ὤραν ἔχω,
τῆς τυφλότητος· καὶ γὰρ εἰ βλέπειν παρῆν,
πῶς ἂν δυναίμην ὀμμάτων ὀρθοστάδην
γλήνας ἐπαίρειν, τήνδ ̓ ἔτ ̓ αἰσχύνην ἔχων;
ὅστις, μάταιος ὥς τις οἰακοστρόφος,
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 αλγηδόνα
μὴ προστίθεσθαι τῶν ἐνεστώτων βάρει.
ὅμως δὲ, ποίαν σκῆψιν οὐδ ̓ Ἑβραϊκὴν
γάμοις προᾑροῦ, 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,
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