With goodness principled not to reject
The penitent, but ever to forgive,
Are drawn to wear out miserable days,
Entangled with a poisonous bosom snake,
If not by quick destruction soon cut off,
As I by thee, to ages an example.

Dal. Yet hear me, Samson; not that I endeavour
To lessen or extenuate my offence;
But that, on the other side, if it be weigh'd
By itself, with aggravations not surcharged,
Or else with just allowance counterpoised,
I may, if possible, thy pardon find
The easier towards me, or thy hatred less.
First granting, as I do, it was a weakness
In me, but incident to all our sex,
Curiosity, inquisitive, importune
Of secrets, then with like infirmity
To publish them, both common female faults;
Was it not weakness also to make known
For importunity, that is, for naught,
Wherein consisted all thy strength and safety?
To what I did thou show'dst me first the way.
But I to enemies reveal'd and should not:
Nor shouldst thou have trusted that to woman's frailty:
Ere I to thee, thou to thyself wast cruel.
Let weakness then with weakness come to parle,
So near related, or the same of kind,
Thine forgive mine; that men may censure thine
The gentler, if severely thou exact not
More strength from me than in thyself was found.
And what if love, which thou interpret'st hate,
The jealousy of love, powerful of sway
In human hearts, nor less in mine towards thee,
Caused what I did? I saw thee mutable
Of fancy, fear'd lest one day thou wouldst leave me
As her at Timna, sought by all means therefore

795 How to endear, and hold thee to me firmest: No better way I saw than by impórtuning To learn thy secrets, get into my power The key of strength and safety: thou wilt say, Why then reveal’d? I was assured by those Who tempted me, that nothing was design'd Against thee but safe custody, and hold: That made for me; I knew that liberty Would draw thee forth to perilous enterprises, While I at home sat full of cares and fears, Wailing thy absence in my widow'd bed: Here I should still enjoy thee, day and night,

800

Mine and love's prisoner, not the Philistines';
Whole to myself, unhazarded abroad,
Fearless at home of partners in my love.
These reasons in love's law have pass'd for good,
Though fond and reasonless to some perhaps;
And love hath oft, well meaning, wrought much woe,
Yet always pity or pardon hath obtain'd.
Be not unlike all others, not austere
As thou art strong, inflexible as steel.
If thou in strength all mortals dost exceed,
In uncompassionate anger do not so.

Sams. How cunningly the sorceress displays
Her own transgressions, to upbraid me mine!
That malice, not repentance, brought thee hither,
By this appears: I gave, thou say'st, the example;
I led the way: bitter reproach, but true:
I to myself was false ere thou to me;
Such pardon therefore as I give my folly,
Take to thy wicked deed; which when thou seest
Impartial, self-severe, inexorable,
Thou wilt renounce thy seeking, and much rather
Confess it feign'd. Weakness is thy excuse,
And I believe it; weakness to resist
Philistian gold: if weakness may excuse,
What murderer, what traitor, parricide,
Incestuous, sacrilegious, but may plead it?
All wickedness is weakness: that plea therefore
With God or man will gain thee no remission.
But love constrain'd thee; call it furious rage
To satisfy thy lust: love seeks to have love;
My love how couldst thou hope, who took’st the way
To raise in me inexpiable hate,
Knowing, as needs I must, by thee betray'd?

840
In vain thou striv'st to cover shame with shame,
Or by evasions thy crime uncover'st more.

Dål. Since thou determinest weakness for no plea
In man or woman, though to thy own condemning,
Hear what assaults I had, what snares besides,

845
What sieges girt me round, ere I consented;
Which might have awed the best-resolved of men,
The constantest, to have yielded without blame.
It was not gold, as to my charge thou lay'st,
That wrought with me: thou know'st, the magistrates 850
And princes of my country came in person,
Solicited, commanded, threaten'd, urged,
Adjured by all the bonds of civil duty
And of religion, press'd how just it was,
How honourable, how glorious, to entrap

855

825. Such pardon, &c. These senti- | poet's own highly-principled mind.ments of self condemnation are expressed | DUNSTER. with wonderful dignity, reflecting all/ 850. Thou know'st, &c. See Judges the noble and resolute virtue of the xvi. 5.

860

A common enemy, who had destroy'd
Such numbers of our nation: and the priest
Was not behind, but ever at my ear,
Preaching how meritorious with the gods
It would be to ensnare an irreligious
Dishonourer of Dagon: what had I
To oppose against such powerful arguments ?
Only my love of thee held long debate,
And combated in silence all these reasons
With hard contést: at length, that grounded maxim, 865
So rife and celebrated in the mouths
Of wisest men, that-To the publick good
Private respects must yield—with grave authority
Took full possession of me, and prevail'd;
Virtue, as I thought, truth, duty, so enjoining,

Saus. I thought where all thy circling wiles would end;
In feign'd religion, smooth hypocrisy!
But had thy love, still odiously pretended,
Been, as it ought, sincere, it would have taught thee
Far other reasonings, brought forth other deeds.

875 I, before all the daughters of my tribe And of my nation, chose thee from among My enemies, loved thee, as too well thou knew'st; Too well; unbosom'd all my secrets to thee, Not out of levity, but overpower'd By thy request, who could deny thee nothing; Yet now am judged an enemy. Why then Didst thou at first receive me for thy husband, Then, as since then, thy country's foe profess'd? Being once a wife, for me thou wast to leave Parents and country; nor was I their subject, Nor under their protection, but my own; Thou mine, not theirs: if aught against my life Thy country sought of thee, it sought unjustly, Against the law of nature, law of nations; No more thy country, but an impious crew Of men conspiring to uphold their state By worse than hostile deeds; violating the ends

900

For which our country is a name so dear;
Not therefore to be obey'd. But zeal moved thee: 895
To please thy gods thou didst it: gods unable
To acquit themselves and prosecute their foes
But by ungodly deeds, the contradiction
Of their own deity, gods cannot be;
Less therefore to be pleased, obey'd, or fear'd.
These false pretexts and varnish'd colours failing,
Bare in thy guilt, how foul must thou appear!

Dal. In argument with men a woman ever
Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.

Sams. For want of words no doubt, or lack of breath: 905 Witness when I was worried with thy peals.

DAL. I was a fool, too rash, and quite mistaken In what I thought would have succeeded best. Let me obtain forgiveness of thee, Samson; Afford me place to show what recompense

910 Towards thee I intend for what I have misdone, Misguided; only what remains past cure Bear not too sensibly, nor still insist To afflict thyself in vain: though sight be lost, Life yet hath many solaces, enjoy'd Where other senses want not their delights At home in leisure and domestick ease, Exempt from many a care and chance, to which Eye-sight exposes daily men abroad. I to the lords will intercede, not doubting Their favourable ear, that I may fetch thee From forth this loathsome prison-house, to abido With me, where my redoubled love and care With nursing diligence, to me glad office, May ever tend about thee to old age With all things grateful cheer'd, and so supplied, That, what by me thou hast lost, thou least shalt miss.

Sams. No, no; of my condition take no care; It fits not; thou and I long since are twain: Nor think me so unwary or accursed, To bring my feet again into the snare Where once I have been caught: I know thy trains, Though dearly to my cost, thy gins, and toils: Thy fair enchanted cup, and warbling charms, No more on me have power; their force is null’d; So much of adder's wisdom I have learn’d, To fence my ear against thy sorceries. If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men Loved, honour'd, fear'd me, thou alone couldst hate me Thy husband, slight me, sell me, and forego me; 940 How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby Deceivable, in most things as a child Helpless, thence easily contemn’d, and scorn'd,

936. Adder's wisdom, alluding to Ps. lviii. 4, 5.

And last neglected! How wouldst thou insult,
When I must live uxorious to thy will
In perfect thraldom; how again betray me,
Bearing my words and doings to the lords
To gloss upon, and, censuring, frown or smile!
This jail I count the house of liberty
To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter.
DAL. Let me approach at least, and touch thy hand.

Sams. Not for thy life, lest fierce remembrance wake
My sudden rage to tear thee joint by joint.
At distance I forgive thee; go with that:
Bewail thy falsehood, and the pious works
It hath brought forth to make thee memorable
Among illustrious women, faithful wives!
Cherish thy hasten’d widowhood with the gold
Of matrimonial treason! so farewell.

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

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 contráry 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,
To all posterity may stand defamed,
With malediction mention’d, and the blot
Of falsehood most unconjugal traduced:
But in my country, where I most desire,
In Ecron, Gaza, Asdod, and in Gath,
I shall be named among the famousest
Of women, sung at solemn festivals,
Living and dead recorded, who, to save
Her country from a fierce destroyer, chose
Above the faith of wedlock-bands; my tomb
With odours visited and annual flowers;
Not less renown'd than in Mount Ephraim
Jael, who with inhospitable guile
Smote Sisera sleeping, through the temples nail'd.