It fits not; thou and I long since are twain: Dal. Let me approach, at least, & touch thy hand. Dal. I see thou art implacable, more deaf To prayers, than winds and seas; yet winds to seas Are reconciled at length, and sea to shore: Thy anger, unappeasable, still rages, Eternal tempest, never to be calm'd. Why do I humble thus myself and suing For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate? Bid go, with evil omen, and the brand Of infamy upon my name denounced? To mix with thy concernments I desist, Henceforth, nor too much disapprove my own. Fame, if not double-faced, is double-mouth'd, And, with contrary blast, proclaims most deeds; On both his wings, one black, the other white, Bears greatest names, in his wild aery flight. My name, perhaps, among the circumcised In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering tribes, Smote Sisera, sleeping, through the temples nail'd. Which, to my country, I was judged to have shown. I leave him to his lot, and like my own. [Exit. Chor. She's gone; a manifest serpent, by her sting, Discover'd in the end, till now conceal'd. Sams. So let her go; God sent her to debase me, And aggravate my folly, who committed To such a viper his most sacred trust Of secresy, my safety, and my life. Chor. Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange After offence returning, to regain Love once possess'd, nor can be easily And secret sting of amorous remorse. [power, Sams. Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end; Not wedlock-treachery endangering life. Chor. It is not virtue, wisdom, valour, wit, Strength, comeliness of shape, or amplest merit, Harder to hit Which way soever men refer it, Much like thy riddle, Samson, in one day Thy paranymph, worthless to thee compared, Nor both so loosely disallied Their nuptials, nor this last so treacherously Or value what is best In choice, but oftest to affect the wrong r? That either they love nothing, or not long? Once join'd, the contrary she proves, a thorn With dotage, and his sense depraved To folly and shameful deeds, which ruin ends. One virtuous, rarely found, That in domestic good combines : Happy that house! his way to peace is smooth : Most shines, and most is acceptable above. So shall he least confusion draw By female usurpation, or dismay'd. But had we best retire? I see a storm. Sams. Fair days have oft contracted wind & rain. Chor. But this another kind of tempest brings. Sams. Be less abstruse, my riddling days are past. Chor. Look now for no enchanting voice, nor fear The bait of honied words; a rougher tongue Draws hitherward; I know him by his stride, The giant Harapha of Gath; his look Haughty, as is his pile high-built, and proud. Comes he in peace? what wind hath blown him Sams. Or peace, or not, alike to me he comes. Har. I come not, Samson, to condole thy chance, As these, perhaps; yet wish it had not been, Though for no friendly intent. I am of Gath; Men call me Harapha, of stock renown'd, As Og, or Anak, and the Emims old, That Kiriathaim held; thou know'st me now, If thou at all art known. Much I have heard Of thy prodigious might, and feats perform'd, Incredible to me; in this displeased, That I was never present, on the place Of those encounters, where we might have tried Each other's force, in camp, or listed field; And now am come to see, of whom such noise Hath walk'd about, and each limb to survey, If thy appearance answer loud report. Sams. Thy way to know, were not to see, but taste. Har. Dost thou already single me? I thought Gyves, and the mill, had tamed thee. O that fortune Had brought me to the field, where thou art famed To have wrought such wonders, with an ass's jaw; I should have forced thee soon, with other arms, Or left thy carcass where the ass lay thrown: So had the glory of prowess been recover'd, To Palestine, won by a Philistine, From the unforeskin'd race, of whom thou bear'st The highest name, for valiant acts; that honour, Certain to have won, by mortal duel, from thee, I lose, prevented by thy eyes put out. [but do Sams. Boast not of what thou would'st have done, What then thou would'st; thou see'st it in thy hand. Har. To combat with a blind man I disdain ; And thou hast need much washing, to be touch'd. Sams. Such usage as your honourable lords Afford me, assassinated and betray'd; Who durst not with their whole united powers, In fight withstand me, single, and unarm'd, Nor, in the house, with chamber-ambushes Close-banded, durst attack me; no, not sleeping Till they had hir'd a woman with their gold, Breaking her marriage-faith, to circumvent me. Har. Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms, Sams. I know no spells, use no forbidden arts; My trust is in the living God, who gave me, At my nativity, this strength, diffused No less through all my sinews, joints, and bones, Than thine, while I preserved these locks unshorn, The pledge of my unviolated vow. For proof hereof, if Dagon be thy god, Go to his temple, invocate his aid, With solemnest devotion, spread before him, How highly it concerns his glory now, To frustrate and dissolve these magic spells, Which I to be the power of Israel's God Avow, and challenge Dagon to the test; Offering to combat thee, his champion bold, With the utmost of his godhead seconded: Then thou shalt see, or rather, to thy sorrow, Soon feel, whose god is strongest, thine or mine. Har. Presume not on thy God; whate'er he be; Thee he regards not, owns not, hath cut off Quite from his people, and deliver'd up Into thy enemies' hand; permitted them To put out both thine eyes; and, fetter'd, send thee Into the common prison, there to grind |