But thee whose strength, while virtue was her mate,
Might have subdu'd the Earth,

Universally crown'd with highest praises.

Samson. I hear the sound of words, their sense the air Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear.

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Chorus. He speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless in might,

The glory late of Israel, now the grief;

We come thy friends and neighbours not unknown,
From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale,

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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 troubl'd mind,

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And are as balm to fester'd wounds.

Samson. 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

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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 enclos'd me round;

Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,
Blindness; for had I sight, confus'd with shame,

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How could I once look up, or heave the head?
Who like a foolish pilot have shipwreck't

My vessel trusted to me from above,

Gloriously rigg'd; and for a word, a tear,
Fool! have divulg'd 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;
These two proportion'd ill drove me transverse.

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Chorus. Tax not divine disposal; wisest men
Have err'd, and by bad women been deceiv'd;
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 thy own nation, and as noble.

Samson. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleas'd
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 urg'd
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,
(O that I never had! fond wish too late.)
Was in the vale of Sorec, Dalila,

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That specious monster, my accomplisht 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;

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Who vanquisht with a peal of words (O weakness!)

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Gave up my fort of silence to a woman.

Chorus. 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.

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Samson. 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,

Acknowledg'd not, or not at all consider'd

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Deliverance offer'd: I on th' other side

Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds;

The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the doer;

But they persisted deaf, and would not seem

To count them things worth notice, till at length

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Their lords the Philistines with gather'd powers
Enter'd Judea seeking me, who then
Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd;
Not flying, but fore-casting in what place
To set upon them, what advantag'd best;
Meanwhile the men of Judah, to prevent
The harass of their land, beset me round;
I willingly on some conditions came

Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me

To the uncircumcis'd a welcome prey,

Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threads
Toucht with the flame: on their whole host I flew
Unarm'd, and with a trivial weapon fell'd
Their choicest youth; they only liv'd who fled.
Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole tribe,
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

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Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument,
Not worse than by his shield and spear,

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Defended Israel from the Ammonite,

Had not his prowess quell'd their pride
In that sore battle when so many di'd,
Without reprieve adjudg'd to death,

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For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.

Samson. Of such examples add me to the roll;

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Me easily indeed mine may neglect,

But God's propos'd deliverance not so.

Chorus. Just are the ways of God,

And justifiable to men;

Unless there be who think not God at all:

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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,

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Who made our laws to bind us, not himself;

And hath full right to exempt

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Whom so it pleases him by choice

From national obstriction, without taint

Of sin, or legal debt;

For with his own laws he can best dispense.

To seek in marriage that fallacious bride,
Unclean, unchaste.

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Down Reason then, at least vain reasonings down;

Though Reason here aver

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 Manoa: advise

Forthwith how thou ought'st to receive him.

Samson. Ay me, another inward grief awak't, With mention of that name renews th' assault.

ΜΑΝΟΑ.

Manoa. Brethren and men of Dan, for such ye seem,

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Though in this uncouth place; if old respect,

As I suppose, towards your once gloried friend,

My son now captive, hither hath inform'd

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Your younger feet, while mine cast back with age
Came lagging after; say if he be here.

Chorus. As signal now in low dejected state,

As erst in highest, behold him where he lies.

Manoa. O miserable change! is this the man, That invincible Samson, far renown'd,

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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 rankt 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
In mortal 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; 1 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?

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