Chapter IX: Part 9

_Chorus._ It is not virtue, wisdom, valour, wit, 1010
Strength, comeliness of shape, or amplest merit,
That woman's love can win or long inherit;
But what it is, hard is to say,
Harder to hit,
Which way soever men refer it 1015
(Much like thy riddle, Samson), in one day
Or seven, though one should musing sit.
If any of these, or all, the Timnian bride
Had not so soon preferred
Thy paranymph, worthless to thee compared, 1020
Successor in thy bed,
Nor both so loosely disallied
Their nuptials, nor this last so treacherously
Had shorn the fatal harvest of thy head.
Is it for that such outward ornament 1025
Was lavished on their sex, that inward gifts
Were left for haste unfinished, judgment scant,
Capacity not raised to apprehend
Or value what is best
In choice, but oftest to affect the wrong? 1030
Or was too much of self-love mixed,
Of constancy no root infixed,
That either they love nothing, or not long?
Whate'er it be, to wisest men and best,
Seeming at first all heavenly under virgin veil, 1035
Soft, modest, meek, demure,
Once joined, the contrary she proves—a thorn
Intestine, far within defensive arms
A cleaving mischief, in his way to virtue
Adverse and turbulent; or by her charms 1040
Draws him awry, enslaved
With dotage, and his sense depraved
To folly and shameful deeds which ruin ends.
What pilot so expert but needs must wreck,
Embarked with such a steers-mate at the helm? 1045
Favoured of heaven who finds
One virtuous, rarely found,
That in domestic good combines!
Happy that house! his way to peace is smooth:
But virtue which breaks through all opposition, 1050
And all temptation can remove,
Most shines and most is acceptable above.
Therefore God's universal law
Gave to the man despotic power
Over his female in due awe, 1055
Nor from that right to part an hour,
Smile she or lour:
So shall he least confusion draw
On his whole life, not swayed
By female usurpation, nor dismayed. 1060
But had we best retire? I see a storm.

_Samson._ Fair days have oft contracted wind and rain.

_Chorus._ But this another kind of tempest brings.

_Samson._ Be less abstruse; my riddling days are past.

_Chorus._ Look now for no enchanting voice, nor fear 1065
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 hither 1070
I less conjecture than when first I saw
The sumptuous Dalila floating this way:
His habit carries peace, his brow defiance.

_Samson._ Or peace or not, alike to me he comes.

_Chorus._ His fraught we soon shall know: he now arrives. 1075

_Harapha._ 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 renowned
As Og, or Anak, and the Emims old 1080
That Kiriathaim held. Thou know'st me now,
If thou at all art known. Much I have heard
Of thy prodigious might and feats performed,
Incredible to me,—in this displeased,
That I was never present on the place 1085
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 walked about, and each limb to survey,
If thy appearance answer loud report. 1090

_Samson._ The way to know were not to see, but taste.

_Harapha._ Dost thou already single me? I thought
Gyves and the mill had tamed thee. Oh, that fortune
Had brought me to the field, where thou art famed
To have wrought such wonders with an ass's jaw! 1095
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 recovered
To Palestine, won by a Philistine
From the unforeskinned race, of whom thou bear'st 1100
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.

_Samson._ Boast not of what thou would'st have done, but do
What then thou would'st; thou seest it in thy hand. 1105

_Harapha._ To combat with a blind man I disdain,
And thou hast need much washing to be touched.

_Samson._ Such usage as your honourable lords
Afford me, assassinated and betrayed;
Who durst not with their whole united powers 1110
In fight withstand me single and unarmed,
Nor in the house with chamber-ambushes
Close-banded durst attack me, no, not sleeping,
Till they had hired a woman with their gold,
Breaking her marriage-faith, to circumvent me. 1115
Therefore, without feigned shifts, let be assigned
Some narrow place enclosed, where sight may give thee,
Or rather flight, no great advantage on me;
Then put on all thy gorgeous arms, thy helmet
And brigandine of brass, thy broad habergeon, 1120
Vant-brace and greaves and gauntlet; add thy spear,
A weaver's beam, and seven-times-folded shield:
I only with an oaken staff will meet thee,
And raise such outcries on thy clattered iron,
Which long shall not withhold me from thy head, 1125
That in a little time while breath remains thee,
Thou oft shalt wish thyself at Gath, to boast
Again in safety what thou would'st have done
To Samson, but shalt never see Gath more.

_Harapha._ Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms, 1130
Which greatest heroes have in battle worn,
Their ornament and safety, had not spells
And black enchantments, some magician's art,
Armed thee or charmed thee strong, which thou from Heaven
Feign'dst at thy birth was given thee in thy hair, 1135
Where strength can least abide, though all thy hairs
Were bristles ranged like those that ridge the back
Of chafed wild boars or ruffled porcupines.

_Samson._ I know no spells, use no forbidden arts;
My trust is in the Living God, who gave me, 1140
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, 1145
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 1150
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. 1155

_Harapha._ Presume not on thy God. Whate'er he be,
Thee he regards not, owns not, hath cut off
Quite from his people, and delivered up
Into thy enemies' hand; permitted them
To put out both thine eyes, and fettered send thee 1160
Into the common prison, there to grind
Among the slaves and asses, thy comrades,
As good for nothing else, no better service
With those thy boisterous locks; no worthy match
For valour to assail, nor by the sword 1165
Of noble warrior, so to stain his honour,
But by the barber's razor best subdued.

_Samson._ All these indignities, for such they are
From thine, these evils I deserve and more,
Acknowledge them from God inflicted on me 1170
Justly, yet despair not of his final pardon,
Whose ear is ever open, and his eye
Gracious to re-admit the suppliant;
In confidence whereof I once again
Defy thee to the trial of mortal fight, 1175
By combat to decide whose god is God,
Thine, or whom I with Israel's sons adore.

_Harapha._ Fair honour that thou doest thy God, in trusting
He will accept thee to defend his cause,
A murtherer, a revolter, and a robber! 1180

_Samson._ Tongue-doughty giant, how dost thou prove me these?

_Harapha._ Is not thy nation subject to our lords?
Their magistrates confessed it, when they took thee
As a league-breaker, and delivered bound
Into our hands: for hadst thou not committed 1185
Notorious murder on those thirty men
At Ascalon, who never did thee harm,
Then, like a robber, stripp'dst them of their robes?
The Philistines, when thou hadst broke the league,
Went up with armed powers thee only seeking, 1190
To others did no violence nor spoil.

_Samson._ Among the daughters of the Philistines
I chose a wife, which argued me no foe,
And in your city held my nuptial feast;
But your ill-meaning politician lords, 1195
Under pretence of bridal friends and guests,
Appointed to await me thirty spies,
Who, threatening cruel death, constrained the bride
To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret,
That solved the riddle which I had proposed. 1200
When I perceived all set on enmity,
As on my enemies, wherever chanced,
I used hostility, and took their spoil,
To pay my underminers in their coin.
My nation was subjected to your lords! 1205
It was the force of conquest; force with force
Is well ejected when the conquered can.
But I, a private person, whom my country
As a league-breaker gave up bound, presumed
Single rebellion, and did hostile acts! 1210
I was no private, but a person raised,
With strength sufficient, and command from Heaven,
To free my country. If their servile minds
Me, their deliverer sent, would not receive,
But to their masters gave me up for nought, 1215
The unworthier they; whence to this day they serve.
I was to do my part from Heaven assigned,
And had performed it, if my known offence
Had not disabled me, not all your force.
These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, 1220
Though by his blindness maimed for high attempts,
Who now defies thee thrice to single fight,
As a petty enterprise of small enforce.

_Harapha._ With thee, a man condemned, a slave enrolled,
Due by the law to capital punishment? 1225
To fight with thee no man of arms will deign.

_Samson._ Cam'st thou for this, vain boaster, to survey me,
To descant on my strength, and give thy verdict?
Come nearer; part not hence so slight informed;
But take good heed my hand survey not thee. 1230

_Harapha._ O Baal-zebub! can my ears unused
Hear these dishonours, and not render death?

_Samson._ No man withholds thee; nothing from thy hand
Fear I incurable; bring up thy van;
My heels are fettered, but my fist is free. 1235

_Harapha._ This insolence other kind of answer fits.

_Samson._ Go, baffled coward, lest I run upon thee,
Though in these chains, bulk without spirit vast,
And with one buffet lay thy structure low,
Or swing thee in the air, then dash thee down, 1240
To the hazard of thy brains and shattered sides.

_Harapha._ By Astaroth, ere long thou shalt lament
These braveries in irons loaden on thee.

_Chorus._ His giantship is gone somewhat crest-fallen,
Stalking with less unconscionable strides, 1245
And lower looks, but in a sultry chafe.

_Samson._ I dread him not, nor all his giant brood,
Though fame divulge him father of five sons,
All of gigantic size, Goliah chief.

_Chorus._ He will directly to the lords, I fear, 1250
And with malicious counsel stir them up
Some way or other yet further to afflict thee.

_Samson._ He must allege some cause, and offered fight
Will not dare mention, lest a question rise
Whether he durst accept the offer or not; 1255
And that he durst not plain enough appeared.
Much more affliction than already felt
They cannot well impose, nor I sustain,
If they intend advantage of my labours,
The work of many hands, which earns my keeping, 1260
With no small profit daily to my owners.
But come what will, my deadliest foe will prove
My speediest friend, by death to rid me hence;
The worst that he can give, to me the best.
Yet so it may fall out, because their end 1265
Is hate, not help to me, it may with mine
Draw their own ruin who attempt the deed.

_Chorus._ Oh how comely it is, and how reviving
To the spirits of just men long oppressed,
When God into the hands of their deliverer 1270
Puts invincible might,
To quell the mighty of the earth, the oppressor,
The brute and boisterous force of violent men,
Hardy and industrious to support.
Tyrannic power, but raging to pursue 1275
The righteous, and all such as honour truth!
He all their ammunition
And feats of war defeats,
With plain heroic magnitude of mind
And celestial vigour armed; 1280
Their armories and magazines contemns,
Renders them useless, while
With wingèd expedition
Swift as the lightning glance he executes
His errand on the wicked, who, surprised, 1285
Lose their defence, distracted and amazed.
But patience is more oft the exercise
Of saints, the trial of their fortitude,
Making them each his own deliverer,
And victor over all 1290
That tyranny or fortune can inflict.
Either of these is in thy lot,
Samson, with might endued
Above the sons of men; but sight bereaved
May chance to number thee with those 1295
Whom patience finally must crown.
This Idol's day hath been to thee no day of rest,
Labouring thy mind
More than the working day thy hands.
And yet perhaps more trouble is behind; 1300
For I descry this way
Some other tending; in his hand
A sceptre or quaint staff he bears,
Comes on amain, speed in his look.
By his habit I discern him now 1305
A public officer, and now at hand.
His message will be short and voluble.

_Officer._ Ebrews, the prisoner Samson here I seek.

_Chorus._ His manacles remark him; there he sits.

_Officer._ Samson, to thee our lords thus bid me say: 1310
This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,
With sacrifices, triumph, pomp, and games;
Thy strength they know surpassing human rate,
And now some public proof thereof require
To honour this great feast, and great assembly. 1315
Rise, therefore, with all speed, and come along,
Where I will see thee heartened and fresh clad,
To appear as fits before the illustrious lords.

_Samson._ Thou know'st I am an Ebrew; therefore tell them
Our Law forbids at their religious rites 1320
My presence; for that cause I cannot come.

_Officer._ This answer, be assured, will not content them.

_Samson._ Have they not sword-players, and every sort
Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners,
Jugglers and dancers, antics, mummers, mimics, 1325
But they must pick me out, with shackles tired,
And over-laboured at their public mill,
To make them sport with blind activity?
Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels,
On my refusal, to distress me more, 1330
Or make a game of my calamities?
Return the way thou cam'st; I will not come.

_Officer._ Regard thyself; this will offend them highly.

_Samson._ Myself? my conscience and internal peace.
Can they think me so broken, so debased 1335
With corporal servitude, that my mind ever
Will condescend to such absurd commands?
Although their drudge, to be their fool or jester,
And, in my midst of sorrow and heart-grief,
To show them feats, and play before their god— 1340
The worst of all indignities, yet on me
Joined with extreme contempt! I will not come.

_Officer._ My message was imposed on me with speed,
Brooks no delay: is this thy resolution?

_Samson._ So take it with what speed thy message needs. 1345

_Officer._ I am sorry what this stoutness will produce.

_Samson._ Perhaps thou shalt have cause to sorrow indeed.

_Chorus._ Consider, Samson; matters now are strained
Up to the highth, whether to hold or break.
He's gone, and who knows how he may report 1350
Thy words by adding fuel to the flame?
Expect another message more imperious,
More lordly thundering than thou well wilt bear.

_Samson._ Shall I abuse this consecrated gift
Of strength, again returning with my hair 1355
After my great transgression? so requite
Favour renewed, and add a greater sin
By prostituting holy things to idols,
A Nazarite, in place abominable,
Vaunting my strength in honour to their Dagon? 1360
Besides how vile, contemptible, ridiculous,
What act more execrably unclean, profane?

_Chorus._ Yet with this strength thou serv'st the Philistines,
Idolatrous, uncircumcised, unclean.

_Samson._ Not in their idol-worship, but by labour 1365
Honest and lawful to deserve my food
Of those who have me in their civil power.

_Chorus._ Where the heart joins not, outward acts defile not.

_Samson._ Where outward force constrains, the sentence holds.
But who constrains me to the temple of Dagon, 1370
Not dragging? the Philistian lords command:
Commands are no constraints. If I obey them,
I do it freely, venturing to displease
God for the fear of man, and man prefer,
Set God behind; which, in his jealousy, 1375
Shall never, unrepented, find forgiveness.
Yet that he may dispense with me, or thee,
Present in temples at idolatrous rites
For some important cause, thou need'st not doubt.

_Chorus._ How thou wilt here come off surmounts my reach. 1380

_Samson._ Be of good courage; I begin to feel
Some rousing motions in me, which dispose
To something extraordinary my thoughts.
I with this messenger will go along,
Nothing to do, be sure, that may dishonour 1385
Our Law, or stain my vow of Nazarite.
If there be aught of presage in the mind,
This day will be remarkable in my life
By some great act, or of my days the last.

_Chorus._ In time thou hast resolved: the man returns. 1390

_Officer._ Samson, this second message from our lords
To thee I am bid say: Art thou our slave,
Our captive, at the public mill our drudge,
And dar'st thou, at our sending and command,
Dispute thy coming? Come without delay; 1395
Or we shall find such engines to assail
And hamper thee, as thou shalt come of force,
Though thou wert firmlier fastened than a rock.

_Samson._ I could be well content to try their art,
Which to no few of them would prove pernicious; 1400
Yet, knowing their advantages too many,
Because they shall not trail me through their streets
Like a wild beast, I am content to go.
—Masters' commands come with a power resistless
To such as owe them absolute subjection; 1405
And for a life who will not change his purpose?
So mutable are all the ways of men.—
Yet this be sure, in nothing to comply
Scandalous or forbidden in our Law.

_Officer._ I praise thy resolution. Doff these links: 1410
By this compliance thou wilt win the lords
To favour, and perhaps to set thee free.

_Samson._ Brethren, farewell. Your company along
I will not wish, lest it perhaps offend them
To see me girt with friends; and how the sight 1415
Of me as of a common enemy,
So dreaded once, may now exasperate them,
I know not. Lords are lordliest in their wine;
And the well-feasted priest then soonest fired
With zeal, if aught religion seem concerned; 1420
No less the people, on their holy-days,
Impetuous, insolent, unquenchable.
Happen what may, of me expect to hear
Nothing dishonourable, impure, unworthy
Our God, our Law, my nation, or myself; 1425
The last of me or no I cannot warrant.

_Chorus._ Go, and the Holy One
Of Israel be thy guide
To what may serve his glory best, and spread his name
Great among the Heathen round; 1430
Send thee the Angel of thy birth, to stand
Fast by thy side, who from thy father's field
Rode up in flames after his message told
Of thy conception, and be now a shield
Of fire; that Spirit, that first rushed on thee 1435
In the camp of Dan,
Be efficacious in thee now at need!
For never was from Heaven imparted
Measure of strength so great to mortal seed,
As in thy wondrous actions hath been seen. 1440
But wherefore comes old Manoa in such haste
With youthful steps? much livelier than ere while
He seems: supposing here to find his son,
Or of him bringing to us some glad news?

_Manoa._ Peace with you, brethren! My inducement hither 1445
Was not at present here to find my son,
By order of the lords new parted hence
To come and play before them at their feast.
I heard all as I came; the city rings,
And numbers thither flock; I had no will, 1450
Lest I should see him forced to things unseemly.
But that which moved my coming now, was chiefly
To give ye part with me what hope I have
With good success to work his liberty.

_Chorus._ That hope would much rejoice us to partake 1455
With thee. Say, reverend sire; we thirst to hear.

_Manoa._ I have attempted, one by one, the lords,
Either at home, or through the high street passing,
With supplication prone and father's tears,
To accept of ransom for my son, their prisoner. 1460
Some much averse I found, and wondrous harsh,
Contemptuous, proud, set on revenge and spite;
That part most reverenced Dagon and his priests;
Others more moderate seeming, but their aim
Private reward, for which both God and State 1465
They easily would set to sale; a third
More generous far and civil, who confessed
They had enough revenged, having reduced
Their foe to misery beneath their fears;
The rest was magnanimity to remit, 1470
If some convenient ransom were proposed.
What noise or shout was that? it tore the sky.

_Chorus._ Doubtless the people shouting to behold
Their once great dread, captive and blind before them,
Or at some proof of strength before them shown. 1475

_Manoa._ His ransom, if my whole inheritance
May compass it, shall willingly be paid
And numbered down. Much rather I shall choose
To live the poorest in my tribe, than richest,
And he in that calamitous prison left. 1480
No, I am fixed not to part hence without him.
For his redemption all my patrimony,
If need be, I am ready to forgo
And quit. Not wanting him, I shall want nothing.

_Chorus._ Fathers are wont to lay up for their sons; 1485
Thou for thy son art bent to lay out all;
Sons wont to nurse their parents in old age,
Thou in old age car'st how to nurse thy son,
Made older than thy age through eye-sight lost.

_Manoa._ It shall be my delight to tend his eyes, 1490
And view him sitting in the house, ennobled
With all those high exploits by him achieved,
And on his shoulders waving down those locks
That of a nation armed the strength contained.
And I persuade me, God had not permitted 1495
His strength again to grow up with his hair
Garrisoned round about him like a camp
Of faithful soldiery, were not his purpose
To use him further yet in some great service—
Not to sit idle with so great a gift 1500
Useless, and thence ridiculous, about him.
And since his strength with eye-sight was not lost,
God will restore him eye-sight to his strength.

_Chorus._ Thy hopes are not ill founded, nor seem vain,
Of his delivery, and thy joy thereon 1505
Conceived, agreeable to a father's love,
In both which we, as next, participate.

_Manoa._ I know your friendly minds and . . . oh, what noise!
Mercy of Heaven! what hideous noise was that?
Horribly loud, unlike the former shout. 1510

_Chorus._ Noise call you it, or universal groan,
As if the whole inhabitation perished!
Blood, death, and deathful deeds, are in that noise,
Ruin, destruction at the utmost point.

_Manoa._ Of ruin indeed methought I heard the noise. 1515
Oh, it continues; they have slain my son!

_Chorus._ Thy son is rather slaying them; that outcry
From slaughter of one foe could not ascend.

_Manoa._ Some dismal accident it needs must be.
What shall we do—stay here or run and see? 1520

_Chorus._ Best keep together here, lest, running thither,
We unawares run into danger's mouth.
This evil on the Philistines is fallen;
From whom could else a general cry be heard?
The sufferers then will scarce molest us here; 1525
From other hands we need not much to fear.
What if, his eye-sight (for to Israel's God
Nothing is hard) by miracle restored,
He now be dealing dole among his foes,
And over heaps of slaughtered walk his way? 1530

_Manoa._ That were a joy presumptuous to be thought.

_Chorus._ Yet God hath wrought things as incredible
For his people of old; what hinders now?

_Manoa._ He can, I know, but doubt to think he will;
Yet hope would fain subscribe, and tempts belief. 1535
A little stay will bring some notice hither.

_Chorus._ Of good or bad so great, of bad the sooner;
For evil news rides post, while good news baits.
And to our wish I see one hither speeding—
An Ebrew, as I guess, and of our tribe. 1540

_Messenger._ Oh, whither shall I run, or which way fly
The sight of this so horrid spectacle,
Which erst my eyes beheld, and yet behold?
For dire imagination still pursues me.
But providence or instinct of nature seems, 1545
Or reason, though disturbed, and scarce consulted,
To have guided me aright, I know not how,
To thee first, reverend Manoa, and to these
My countrymen, whom here I knew remaining,
As at some distance from the place of horror, 1550
So in the sad event too much concerned.

_Manoa._ The accident was loud, and here before thee
With rueful cry; yet what it was we hear not.
No preface needs, thou seest we long to know.

_Messenger._ It would burst forth; but I recover breath, 1555
And sense distract, to know well what I utter.

_Manoa._ Tell us the sum, the circumstance defer.

_Messenger._ Gaza yet stands, but all her sons are fallen,
All in a moment overwhelmed and fallen.

_Manoa._ Sad! but thou know'st to Israelites not saddest 1560
The desolation of a hostile city.

_Messenger._ Feed on that first, there may in grief be surfeit.

_Manoa._ Relate by whom.

_Messenger._ By Samson.

_Manoa._ That still lessens
The sorrow, and converts it nigh to joy.

_Messenger._ Ah! Manoa, I refrain too suddenly 1565
To utter what will come at last too soon,
Lest evil tidings, with too rude irruption
Hitting thy aged ear, should pierce too deep.

_Manoa._ Suspense in news is torture; speak them out.

_Messenger._ Take then the worst in brief: Samson is dead. 1570

_Manoa._ The worst indeed! oh, all my hope's defeated
To free him hence! but Death who sets all free
Hath paid his ransom now and full discharge.
What windy joy this day had I conceived,
Hopeful of his delivery, which now proves 1575
Abortive as the first-born bloom of spring
Nipt with the lagging rear of winter's frost!
Yet, ere I give the reins to grief, say first
How died he; death to life is crown or shame.
All by him fell, thou say'st; by whom fell he? 1580
What glorious hand gave Samson his death's wound?

_Messenger._ Unwounded of his enemies he fell.

_Manoa._ Wearied with slaughter, then, or how? explain.

_Messenger._ By his own hands.

_Manoa._ Self-violence? what cause
Brought him so soon at variance with himself 1585
Among his foes?

_Messenger._ Inevitable cause—
At once both to destroy and be destroyed.
The edifice, where all were met to see him,
Upon their heads and on his own he pulled.

_Manoa._ Oh, lastly over-strong against thyself! 1590
A dreadful way thou took'st to thy revenge.
More than enough we know; but, while things yet
Are in confusion, give us, if thou canst,
Eye-witness of what first or last was done,
Relation more particular and distinct. 1595

_Messenger._ Occasions drew me early to this city,
And, as the gates I entered with sun-rise,
The morning trumpets festival proclaimed
Through each high street. Little I had dispatched,
When all abroad was rumoured that this day 1600
Samson should be brought forth, to show the people
Proof of his mighty strength in feats and games.
I sorrowed at his captive state, but minded
Not to be absent at that spectacle.
The building was a spacious theatre, 1605
Half-round, on two main pillars vaulted high,
With seats where all the lords, and each degree
Of sort, might sit in order to behold;
The other side was open, where the throng
On banks and scaffolds under sky might stand; 1610
I among these aloof obscurely stood.
The feast and noon grew high, and sacrifice
Had filled their hearts with mirth, high cheer, and wine,
When to their sports they turned. Immediately
Was Samson as a public servant brought, 1615
In their state livery clad; before him pipes
And timbrels; on each side went armèd guards,
Both horse and foot; before him and behind
Archers and slingers, cataphracts and spears.
At sight of him the people with a shout 1620
Rifted the air, clamouring their god with praise,
Who had made their dreadful enemy their thrall.
He, patient but undaunted where they led him,
Came to the place; and what was set before him,
Which without help of eye might be assayed, 1625
To heave, pull, draw, or break, he still performed
All with incredible, stupendious force,
None daring to appear antagonist.
At length, for intermission sake, they led him
Between the pillars; he his guide requested 1630
(For so from such as nearer stood we heard),
As over-tired, to let him lean a while
With both his arms on those two massy pillars,
That to the archèd roof gave main support.
He unsuspicious led him; which when Samson 1635
Felt in his arms, with head a while inclined,
And eyes fast fixed, he stood, as one who prayed,
Or some great matter in his mind revolved.
At last, with head erect, thus cried aloud:
'Hitherto, Lords, what your commands imposed 1640
I have performed, as reason was, obeying,
Not without wonder or delight beheld;
Now of my own accord such other trial
I mean to show you of my strength, yet greater,
As with amaze shall strike all who behold.' 1645
This uttered, straining all his nerves, he bowed;
As with the force of winds and waters pent
When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars
With horrible convulsion to and fro
He tugged, he shook, till down they came, and drew 1650
The whole roof after them, with burst of thunder,
Upon the heads of all who sat beneath,
Lords, ladies, captains, counsellors, or priests,
Their choice nobility and flower, not only
Of this, but each Philistian city round, 1655
Met from all parts to solemnize this feast.
Samson, with these immixed, inevitably
Pulled down the same destruction on himself;
The vulgar only scaped, who stood without.

_Chorus._ Oh, dearly-bought revenge, yet glorious! 1660
Living or dying thou hast fulfilled
The work for which thou wast foretold
To Israel, and now liest victorious
Among thy slain self-killed;
Not willingly, but tangled in the fold 1665
Of dire Necessity, whose law in death conjoined
Thee with thy slaughtered foes, in number more
Than all thy life had slain before.

_Semichorus._ While their hearts were jocund and sublime,
Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine, 1670
And fat regorged of bulls and goats,
Chaunting their idol, and preferring
Before our living Dread, who dwells
In Silo, his bright sanctuary,
Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent, 1675
Who hurt their minds,
And urged them on with mad desire
To call in haste for their destroyer.
They, only set on sport and play,
Unweetingly importuned 1680
Their own destruction to come speedy upon them.
So fond are mortal men,
Fallen into wrath divine,
As their own ruin on themselves to invite,
Insensate left, or to sense reprobate, 1685
And with blindness internal struck.

_Semichorus._ But he, though blind of sight,
Despised, and thought extinguished quite,
With inward eyes illuminated,
His fiery virtue roused 1690
From under ashes into sudden flame,
And as an evening dragon came,
Assailant on the perchèd roosts
And nests in order ranged
Of tame villatic fowl, but as an eagle 1695
His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads.
So Virtue, given for lost,
Depressed and overthrown, as seemed,
Like that self-begotten bird,
In the Arabian woods embost, 1700
That no second knows nor third,
And lay erewhile a holocaust,
From out her ashy womb now teemed,
Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most
When most unactive deemed; 1705
And, though her body die, her fame survives,
A secular bird, ages of lives.

_Manoa._ Come, come; no time for lamentation now,
Nor much more cause. Samson hath quit himself
Like Samson, and heroicly hath finished 1710
A life heroic, on his enemies
Fully revenged; hath left them years of mourning,
And lamentation to the sons of Caphtor
Through all Philistian bounds; to Israel
Honour hath left and freedom, let but them 1715
Find courage to lay hold on this occasion;
To himself and father's house eternal fame;
And, which is best and happiest yet, all this
With God not parted from him, as was feared,
But favouring and assisting to the end. 1720
Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail
Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise, or blame; nothing but well and fair,
And what may quiet us in a death so noble.
Let us go find the body where it lies 1725
Soaked in his enemies' blood, and from the stream
With lavers pure, and cleansing herbs, wash off
The clotted gore. I, with what speed the while
(Gaza is not in plight to say us nay),
Will send for all my kindred, all my friends, 1730
To fetch him hence, and solemnly attend,
With silent obsequy and funeral train,
Home to his father's house. There will I build him
A monument, and plant it round with shade
Of laurel ever green, and branching palm, 1735
With all his trophies hung, and acts enrolled
In copious legend, or sweet lyric song.
Thither shall all the valiant youth resort,
And from his memory inflame their breasts
To matchless valour, and adventures high; 1740
The virgins also shall, on feastful days,
Visit his tomb with flowers, only bewailing
His lot unfortunate in nuptial choice,
From whence captivity and loss of eyes.

_Chorus._ All is best, though we oft doubt, 1745
What the unsearchable dispose
Of Highest Wisdom brings about,
And ever best found in the close.
Oft He seems to hide his face,
But unexpectedly returns, 1750
And to his faithful champion hath in place
Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns,
And all that band them to resist
His uncontrollable intent.
His servants He, with new acquist 1755
Of true experience from this great event,
With peace and consolation hath dismissed,
And calm of mind, all passion spent.

NOTES

_A Defence of the People of England_

Page 2. _Salmasius_ (Claudius), Latinized name of Claude de Saumaise, b. 1588, d. 1653; regarded in his time, throughout Europe, as the paragon of scholarship; engaged, after the execution of Charles I., to defend the royal cause against the Commonwealth, which he endeavored to do in his _Defensio Regia pro Carolo I._, addressed to Charles II. In this work he defines a king ('if that,' says Milton, 'may be said to be defined which he makes infinite') 'to be a person in whom the supreme power of the kingdom resides, who is answerable to God alone, who may do whatsoever pleases him, who is bound by no law.'

P. 4, 5. _single person_: Milton himself, who replied to the _Eikon Basilike_, and refuted its 'maudlin sophistry' in his _Eikonoklastes_; _antagonist of mine_: Salmasius.

_The Second Defence of the People of England_

P. 7. _one eminent above the rest_: Salmasius.

P. 9, 10. _columns of Hercules_: the mountains on each side of the Straits of Gibraltar. It was fabled that they were formerly one mountain, which was rent asunder by Hercules. _Triptolemus_: the fabled inventor of the plough and the distributor of grain among men, under favor of Ceres.

P. 10. _the most noble queen of Sweden_: Christina, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus.

P. 12. _Monstrum horrendum_: a monster horrible, mis-shapen, huge, deprived of his eyesight; description of the Cyclops Polyphemus, whose one eye was put out by Ulysses.—_Virgil's Æneid_, iii. 658.

P. 14. _Tiresias_: the blind prophet of Thebes. _Apollonius Rhodius_: poet and rhetorician (B.C. 280-203), author of the _Argonautica_, a heroic poem on the Argonautic expedition to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece.

P. 14, 15. _Timoleon of Corinth_: Greek statesman and general, who expelled the tyrants from the Greek cities of Sicily, and restored the democratic form of government; died blind, 337 B.C. _Appius Claudius_: surnamed Cæcus from his blindness. Roman consul, 307 and 296; induced the senate, in his old age, to reject the terms of peace which Cineas had proposed on behalf of Pyrrhus. _Pyrrhus_: king of Epirus (B.C. 318-272), who waged war against the Romans. _Cæcilius Metellus_: Roman consul, B.C. 251, 249; pontifex maximus for twenty-two years from 243; lost his sight in 241 while rescuing the Palladium when the temple of Vesta was on fire. _Dandolo_ (_Enrico_): b. 1107(?); elected Doge in 1192; d. 1205. He was ninety-six years old when, though blind, he commanded the Venetians at the taking of Constantinople, June 17, 1203.

'Oh, for one hour of blind old Dandolo!
The octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe.'

—_Byron's Childe Harold_, Canto iv. St. xii.

_Ziska_, or Zizka (John): military chief of the Hussites, b. 1360(?), d. 1424; his real name was Trocznow; he lost an eye in battle, and was thence called Ziska, _i.e._ one-eyed; lost his other eye from an arrow at the siege of Rubi, but his blindness did not prevent his continuing the war against ecclesiastical tyranny. _Jerome Zanchius_ (Girolamo Zanchi), Italian Protestant theologian, b. 1516, d. 1590; was canon regular of the Lateran when he became a Protestant; professor of theology and philosophy, University of Strasburg, 1553-1563; professor of theology, University of Heidelberg, 1568-1576.

P. 16. _Æsculapius_: the god of medicine. _Epidaurus_ (now Epidauro): chief seat of the worship of Æsculapius; _the son of Thetis_: Achilles, the hero of the Iliad. I have substituted the Earl of Derby's translation of the lines which follow from the Iliad, for that given by Robert Fellowes.

P. 18. _Prytaneum_: 'a public building in the towns of Greece, where the Prytanes (chief magistrates in the states) assembled and took their meals together, and where those who had deserved well of their country were maintained during life.'

P. 19, 20. _born in London_: 9th of December, 1608; _grammar-school_: St. Paul's, notable among the classical seminaries then in London. The head-master was a Mr. Alexander Gill, Sr., and the sub-master, or usher, Mr. Alexander Gill, Jr.; with the latter Milton afterward maintained an intimate friendship.

P. 20. _On my father's estate_: at Horton, in Buckinghamshire. _Henry Wotton_: at this time Provost of Eton. His letter to Milton is dated 13 April, 1638. In the concluding paragraph, Sir Henry writes: 'At Sienna I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni, an old Roman courtier in dangerous times, . . . at my departure toward Rome (which had been the centre of his experience) I had won confidence enough to beg his advice, how I might carry myself securely there, without offence of others, or of mine own conscience. _Signor Arrigo mio_ (says he), _I pensieri stretti, & il viso sciolto_: that is, your thoughts close and your countenance loose, will go safely over the whole world. Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) your judgment doth need no commentary; and therefore, Sir, I will commit you with it to the best of all securities, God's dear love, remaining your friend as much at command as any of longer date.' Milton was certainly the last man in the world to make such a prudential, or rather crafty, maxim his rule of conduct, even in such a country as Italy then was. He has stated his own rule further on in this extract. _Thomas Scudamore_: miswritten for John (_Masson_).

P. 21. _Jacopo Gaddi_: a prominent and influential literary man of Florence, member of the Florentine Academy, author of poems, historical essays, etc., in Latin and in Italian. _Carlo Dati_: his full name was Carlo Ruberto Dati; only in his 19th year when Milton visited Florence; was afterwards one of the most distinguished of the Florentine men of letters and academicians; became strongly attached to Milton, and corresponded with him after his return to England; author of 'Vite de' Pittori Antichi' (Lives of the Ancient Painters) and numerous other works.

P. 21. _Frescobaldi_ (_Pietro_): a Florentine academician. _Coltellini_ (_Agostino_): a Florentine advocate; founder of an academy under the name of the Apatisti (the Indifferents). 'Such were the attractions of this academy, and so energetic was Coltellini in its behalf, that within ten or twenty years after its foundation it had a fame among the Italian academies equal, in some respects, to that of the first and oldest, and counted among its members not only all the eminent Florentines, but most of the distinguished _literati_ of Italy, besides cardinals, Italian princes and dukes, many foreign nobles and scholars, and at least one pope.'—_Masson._ _Bonmattei_, or _Buommattei_ (_Benedetto_): an eminent member of various Florentine and other academies; author of various works, among them a commentary on parts of Dante, and a standard treatise, _Della Lingua Toscana_; by profession a priest. _Chimentelli_ (_Valerio_): a priest; professor of Greek, and then of Eloquence and Politics, in Pisa; author of an archæological work, entitled _Marmor Pisanum_. _Francini_ (_Antonio_): Florentine academician and poet. _Lucas Holstenius_ (in the vernacular, Lukas Holste, or Holsten), secretary to Cardinal Barberini, and one of the librarians of the Vatican. _Manso_: author of a Life of Tasso, 1619. Milton, just before leaving Naples, addressed to him his Latin poem, _Mansus_.

P. 22. _so little reserve on matters of religion_: here it appears that he did not make Sir Henry Wotton's prudential maxim his rule of conduct.

P. 22, 23. _the slandering More_ (Lat. _Morus_), Alexander: a Reformed minister, then resident in Holland, and at one time a friend of Salmasius. He had formerly been Professor of Greek in the University of Geneva. The real author of the _Regii Sanguinis Clamor_ was the Rev. Dr. Peter Du Moulin, the younger, made, 1660, a prebendary of Canterbury. More was, indeed, the publisher of the book, the corrector of the press, and author of the dedicatory preface in the printer's name, to Charles II. Milton fully believed when he wrote the Second Defence that More was the author of the _R. S. C._, having received convincing assurances that he was. _Diodati_ (Dr. Jean, or Giovanni), uncle of Milton's friend, Carolo Diodati. He made the Italian translation of the Scriptures, known as Diodati's Bible, published in 1607. _at the time when Charles_, etc.: Milton's return to England was not, as he himself (by a slip of memory, no doubt) states, 'at the time when Charles, having broken the peace with the Scots, was renewing the second of those wars named Episcopal,' but exactly a twelvemonth previous to that time, and about eight months before the meeting of the Short Parliament.—_Keightley._

P. 24. _two books to a friend_: 'Of Reformation in England, and the causes that hitherto have hindered it. 1641.' _two bishops_: Dr. Joseph Hall (1574-1656), Bishop of Exeter, afterward Bishop of Norwich; and Dr. James Usher (1580-1656), Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. _Concerning Prelatical Episcopacy_: the full title is, 'Of prelatical episcopacy, and whether it may be deduced from the apostolical times, by virtue of those testimonies which are alleged to that purpose in some late treatises; one whereof goes under the name of James, Archbishop of Armagh. 1641.' _Concerning the mode of ecclesiastical government_: 'The reason of church government urged against prelaty. 1641.'

P. 24. _Animadversions_: 'Animadversions upon the remonstrant's defence against Smectymnuus. 1641.'

P. 24. _Apology_: 'An apology for Smectymnuus.' 1642. The pamphlet by Smectymnuus was published with the following title, which is sufficiently descriptive of its character: 'An Answer to a Book entituled "An Humble Remonstrance" [by Bishop Hall], in which the originall of Liturgy [and] Episcopacy is discussed and quæres propounded concerning both, the parity of Bishops and Presbyters in Scripture demonstrated, the occasion of their unparity in Antiquity discovered, the disparity of the ancient and our modern Bishops manifested, the antiquity of Ruling Elders in the Church vindicated, the Prelaticall Church bounded: Written by Smectymnuus.' 1641. The pamphlet was the joint production of five Presbyterian clergymen, Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow, but written for the most part by Thomas Young, Milton's former tutor. The name Smectymnuus was made up from the several authors' initials: S. M., E. C., T. Y., M. N., U. U. (for W.) S.

P. 24. _the domestic species_: the titles of the pamphlets on marriage and divorce are: 'The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' 1643, 1644; 'The Judgment of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce,' 1644; 'Tetrachordon: expositions upon the four chief places in Scripture which treat of marriage, or nullities in marriage,' 1644; 'Colasterion: a reply to a nameless answer against the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' 1645.

P. 25. _Selden_ (_John_), 1584-1654, celebrated English lawyer, statesman, and political writer. His 'Table Talk' was long famous, 'being his sense of various matters of weight and high consequence, relating especially to religion and state.'

P. 25. _an inferior at home_: many passages in Milton's works, poetical and prose, indicate, on his part, an estimate of woman which may be attributed, in some measure, at least, to his unfortunate first marriage. His own opinions of what should be the relation of wife to husband he, no doubt, expressed in the following passages in the 'Paradise Lost,' Book iv. 635-638, x. 145-156, xi. 287-292, 629-636; and in the 'Samson Agonistes,' 1053-1060. But no one can read the several treatises on Divorce without being impressed with the loftiness of Milton's ideal of marriage, and his sense of the sacred duties appertaining thereto. The only true marriage with him was the union of _souls_, as well as of bodies, souls whom _God_ hath joined together (Matt. xix. 6, Mark x. 9), not the priest nor the magistrate.

P. 25. _the principles of education_: 'Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib.' 1644. Hartlib was nominally a merchant in London, a foreigner by birth, the son of a Polish merchant of German extraction, settled in Elbing, in Prussia, whose wife was the daughter of a wealthy English merchant of Dantzic. He was a reformer and philanthropist, and an advocate of the views of the educational reformer, Comenius.

P. 25. '_Areopagitica_: a speech for the liberty of unlicensed printing, to the Parliament of England.' 1644.

P. 26. _what might lawfully be done against tyrants_: in his pamphlet entitled, 'The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: proving that it is lawful, and hath been held so through all ages, for any, who have the power, to call to account a tyrant or wicked king, and, after due conviction, to depose, and put him to death, if the ordinary magistrate have neglected, or denied to do it; and that they who of late so much blame deposing are the men that did it themselves. The author J. M. 1649,'

P. 27. _history of my country_: 'The History of Britain; that part especially now called England. From the first traditional beginning continued to the Norman Conquest.'

P. 27. _I had already finished four books_: _i.e._ in 1648; the work was not published till 1670. It contained the fine portrait of Milton, by William Faithorne, for which he sat in his 62d year.

P. 27. _A book . . . ascribed to the king_: ten days after the king's death, was published (9 Feb. 1649), 'Ἑἰκὼν Βασιλική: The True Portraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings.—_Rom._ viii. _More than conquerour_, &c.—_Bona agere et mala pati Regium est._—MDCXLVIII.' The book professed to be the king's own production, and Milton answered it as such, tho' it appears he had his suspicions as to its authorship. It was universally regarded, at the time, as the king's; but it was before long well known (though the controversy as to the authorship was long after kept up) to have been written by Dr. John Gauden, Rector of Bocking, and, after the Restoration, Bishop of Exeter, and, a short time before his death, Bishop of Worcester. Milton's reply, published 6th of Oct., 1649, is entitled 'ἙΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ in Answer To a Book Intitl'd ἘΙΚῺΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΉ, The Portrature of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings. The Author I. M.

Prov. xxviii. 15, 16, 17.

15. As a roaring Lyon, and a ranging Beare, so is a wicked
Ruler over the poor people.

16. The Prince that wanteth understanding, is also a great
oppressor; but he that hateth covetousnesse shall prolong his
dayes.

17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall
fly to the pit, let no man stay him.

Salust. Conjurat. Catilin.

Regium imperium, quod initio, conservandæ libertatis, atque
augendæ reipub. causâ fuerat, in superbiam, dominationemque se
convertit.

Regibus boni, quam mali, suspectiores sunt; semperque his
aliena virtus formidolosa est.

Quidlibet impunè facere, hoc scilicet regium est.

Published by Authority.

London, Printed by Matthew Simmons, next dore to the gilded Lyon in Aldersgate street. 1649.'

P. 27. _Salmasius then appeared_: that is, with his _Defensio Regia pro Carolo I._

_To Charles Diodati_

P. 28. _Chester's Dee_: the old city of Chester is situated on the Dee (Lat. _Deva_).

P. 28. _Vergivian wave_ (Lat. _Vergivium salum_): the Irish Sea.

P. 28. _it is not my care to revisit the reedy Cam_, etc.: this was the period of his rustication from Christ's College, Cambridge, due, it seems, to some difficulty which Milton had with his tutor, Mr. Chappell.

P. 28. _the tearful exile in the Pontic territory_: Ovid, who was relegated (rather than exiled) to Tomi, a town on the Euxine.

P. 28. _Maro_: the Latin poet, Publius Virgilius Maro.

P. 29. _or the unhappy boy . . . or the fierce avenger_: as Masson suggests, the allusions here may be to Shakespeare's Romeo and the Ghost in _Hamlet_.

P. 29. _the house of Pelops_, etc.: subjects of the principal Greek tragedies.

P. 29. _the arms of living Pelops_: an allusion to the ivory shoulder of Pelops, by which, when he was restored to life after having been served up at a feast of the gods, given by his father Tantalus, the shoulder consumed by Ceres was replaced.

P. 30. _thy own flower_: the anemone into which Adonis was turned by Venus, after his dying of a wound received from a wild boar during the chase.

P. 30. _alternate measures_: the alternate hexameters and pentameters of the Elegy.

_To Alexander Gill, Jr._ (_Familiar Letters_, No. III.)

P. 30. _Alexander Gill, Jr._: Gill was Milton's tutor in St. Paul's School, of which his father, Alexander Gill, was head-master. Milton was sent to this school in his twelfth year (1620), and remained there till his seventeenth year (1625). He was entered very soon after at Christ's College, Cambridge, beginning residence in the Easter term of 1625.

_To Thomas Young._ (_Familiar Letters_, No. IV.)

P. 31. _Thomas Young_: Young had been Milton's tutor before he entered St. Paul's School, and later; he was one of the authors of the Smectymnuan pamphlet; was appointed Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1644.

P. 31. _Stoa of the Iceni_ (Lat. _Stoam Icenorum_): a pun for Stowmarket in Suffolk, the Iceni having been the inhabitants of the parts of Roman Britain corresponding to Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, etc.—_Masson._ Their queen was Boadicea, who led their revolt against the Romans.

P. 31. _Zeno_: Greek philosopher (about 358-260 B.C.), father of the Stoic philosophy, so called from his teaching in the _Stoa Pœcile_, in Athens, in which were the frescoes of Polygnotus (about 480-430 B.C.).

P. 31. _Serranus_: an agnomen, or fourth name, given to L. Quinctius Cincinnatus; Roman consul 460 B.C.; in 458 called from the plough to the dictatorship, whence called by Florus, _Dictator ad aratro_; the agnomen is said to have been derived from _serere_, to sow; 'Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat? . . . vel te sulco, Serrane, serentem' (Who can leave thee unmentioned, great Cato, or thee, Cossus? . . . or thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow).—_Æneid_, vi. 844.

P. 31. _Curius_: M'. Curius Dentatus, noted for his fortitude and frugality; consul B.C. 290; a second time 275, when he defeated Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; consul a third time, 274; afterward retired to his small farm, which he cultivated himself.

_To Charles Diodati, making a Stay in the Country_

P. 32. _Erato_: the muse of erotic poetry.

P. 32. _the fierce dog_: Cerberus.

P. 32. _the Samian master_: Pythagoras, who was a native of Samos.

P. 32. _Tiresias_: the Theban prophet, deprived of sight by Juno; Jupiter, in compensation, bestowed upon him the power of prophecy.

P. 32. _Theban Linus_: the singer and philosopher.

P. 32. _Calchas the exile_: a famous soothsayer, who accompanied the Greeks to Troy.

P. 32. _Orpheus_: the fabulous Thracian poet and musician.

P. 32. _Circe_: See Comus, 50-53.

P. 33. _the heavenly birth of the King of Peace_: his ode _On the Morning of Christ's Nativity_, composed on and just after Christmas, 1629.

_Ad Patrem_

P. 35. 1. _Pieria's_: used for Pierian, from Pierus, a mountain of Thessaly sacred to the muses.

P. 36. 18. _Clio_: the Muse of History, 'inasmuch,' says Masson, 'as what he is to say about his Father is strictly true.'

P. 36. 22. _Promethean fire_: the fire which Prometheus brought down from heaven.