Samson Agonistes Read Online

But zeal mov'd thee;

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 pleas'd, 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.

SAM.

For want of words no doubt, or lack of breath,

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 shew what recompence

Towards thee I intend for what I have misdone,

Misguided; only what remains past cure

Bear not too sensibly, nor still insist

To afflict thy self 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 domestic ease,

Exempt from many a care and chance to which

Eye-sight exposes daily men abroad.

I to the Lords will intercede, not doubting

Thir favourable ear, that I may fetch thee

From forth this loathsom prison-house, to abide

With me, where my redoubl'd love and care

With nursing diligence, to me glad office,

May ever tend about thee to old age

With all things grateful chear'd, and so suppli'd,

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 accurst

To bring my feet again into the snare

Where once I have been caught; I know thy trains

Though dearly to my cost, thy ginns, and toyls;

Thy fair enchanted cup, and warbling charms

No more on me have power, their force is null'd,

So much of Adders wisdom I have learn't

To fence my ear against thy sorceries.

If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men

Lov'd, honour'd, fear'd me, thou alone could hate me

Thy Husband, slight me, sell me, and forgo me;

How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby

Deceiveable, in most things as a child

Helpless, thence easily contemn'd, and scorn'd,

And last neglected? How wouldst thou insult

When I must live uxorious to thy will

In perfet thraldom, how again betray me,

Bearing my words and doings to the Lords

To gloss upon, and censuring, frown or smile?

This Gaol 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.

SAM.

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 falshood, and the pious works

It hath brought forth to make thee memorable

Among illustrious women, faithful wives:

Cherish thy hast'n'd widowhood with the gold

Of Matrimonial treason: so farewel.

DAL.

I see thou art implacable, more deaf

To prayers, then winds and seas, yet winds to seas

Are reconcil'd at length, and Sea to Shore:

Thy anger, unappeasable, still rages,

Eternal tempest never to be calm'd.

Why do I humble thus my self, and suing

For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate?

Bid go with evil omen and the brand

Of infamy upon my name denounc't?

To mix with thy concernments I desist

Henceforth, nor too much disapprove my own.

Fame if not double-fac't is double-mouth'd,

And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds,

On both his wings, one black, th' other white,

Bears greatest names in his wild aerie flight.

My name perhaps among the Circumcis'd

In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering Tribes,

To all posterity may stand defam'd,

With malediction mention'd, and the blot

Of falshood most unconjugal traduc't.

But in my countrey where I most desire,

In Ecron, Gaza, Asdod, and in Gath

I shall be nam'd among the famousest

Of Women, sung at solemn festivals,

Living and dead recorded, who to save

Her countrey from a fierce destroyer, chose

Above the faith of wedlock-bands, my tomb

With odours visited and annual flowers.

Not less renown'd then in Mount Ephraim,

Jael, who with inhospitable guile

Smote Sisera sleeping through the Temples nail'd.

Nor shall I count it hainous to enjoy

The public marks of honour and reward

Conferr'd upon me, for the piety

Which to my countrey I was judg'd to have shewn.

At this who ever envies or repines

I leave him to his lot, and like my own.

CHOR.

She's gone, a manifest Serpent by her sting

Discover'd in the end, till now conceal'd.

SAM.

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 secresie, my safety, and my life.

CHOR.

Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,

After offence returning, to regain

Love once possest, nor can be easily

Repuls't, without much inward passion felt

And secret sting of amorous remorse.

SAM.

Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end,

Not wedlock-trechery endangering life.

CHO.

It is not vertue, wisdom, valour, wit,

Strength, comliness of shape, or amplest merit

That womans love can win or long inherit;

But what it is, hard is to say,

Harder to hit,

(Which way soever men refer it)

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 preferr'd

Thy Paranymph, worthless to thee compar'd,

Successour in thy bed,

Nor both so loosly disally'd

Thir nuptials, nor this last so trecherously

Had shorn the fatal harvest of thy head.

Is it for that such outward ornament

Was lavish't on thir Sex, that inward gifts

Were left for hast unfinish't, judgment scant,

Capacity not rais'd to apprehend

Or value what is best

In choice, but oftest to affect the wrong?

Or was too much of self-love mixt,

Of constancy no root infixt,

That either they love nothing, or not long?

What e're it be, to wisest men and best

Seeming at first all heavenly under virgin veil,

Soft, modest, meek, demure,

Once join'd, the contrary she proves, a thorn

Intestin, far within defensive arms

A cleaving mischief, in his way to vertue

Adverse and turbulent, or by her charms

Draws him awry enslav'd

With dotage, and his sense deprav'd

To folly and shameful deeds which ruin ends.

What Pilot so expert but needs must wreck

Embarqu'd with such a Stears-mate at the Helm?

Favour'd of Heav'n who finds

One vertuous rarely found,

That in domestic good combines:

Happy that house! his way to peace is smooth:

But vertue which breaks through all opposition,

And all temptation can remove,

Most shines and most is acceptable above.

Therefore Gods universal Law

Gave to the man despotic power

Over his female in due awe,

Nor from that right to part an hour,

Smile she or lowre:

So shall he least confusion draw

On his whole life, not sway'd

By female usurpation, nor dismay'd.

But had we best retire, I see a storm?

SAM.

Fair days have oft contracted wind and rain.

CHOR.

But this another kind of tempest brings.

SAM.

Be less abstruse, my riddling days are past.

CHOR.

Look now for no inchanting 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 hither

I less conjecture then when first I saw

The sumptuous Dalila floating this way:

His habit carries peace, his brow defiance.

SAM.

Or peace or not, alike to me he comes.

CHOR.

His fraught we soon shall know, he now arrives.

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 knowst 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 displeas'd,

That I was never present on the place

Of those encounters where we might have tri'd

Each others 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.

SAM.

The way to know were not to see but taste.

HAR.

Dost thou already single me; I thought

Gives and the Mill had tam'd thee; O that fortune

Had brought me to the field where thou art fam'd

To have wrought such wonders with an Asses Jaw;

I should have forc'd thee soon with other arms,

Or left thy carkass where the Ass lay thrown:

So had the glory of Prowess been recover'd

To Palestine, won by a Philistine

From the unforeskinn'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.

SAM.

Boast not of what thou wouldst have done, but do

What then thou would'st, thou seest it in thy hand.

HAR.

To combat with a blind man I disdain,

And thou hast need much washing to be toucht.

SAM.

Such usage as your honourable Lords

Afford me assassinated and betray'd,

Who durst not with thir whole united powers

In fight withstand me single and unarm'd,

Nor in the house with chamber Ambushes

Close-banded durst attaque me, no not sleeping,

Till they had hir'd a woman with their gold

Breaking her Marriage Faith to circumvent me.

Therefore without feign'd shifts let be assign'd

Some narrow place enclos'd, 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,

Vant-brass and Greves, and Gauntlet, add thy Spear

A Weavers beam, and seven-times-folded shield,

I only with an Oak'n staff will meet thee,

And raise such out-cries on thy clatter'd Iron,

Which long shall not with-hold mee from thy head,

That in a little time while breath remains thee,

Thou oft shalt wish thy self at Gath to boast

Again in safety what thou wouldst have done

To Samson, but shalt never see Gath more.

HAR.

Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms

Which greatest Heroes have in battel worn,

Thir ornament and safety, had not spells

And black enchantments, some Magicians Art

Arm'd thee or charm'd thee strong, which thou from Heaven

Feigndst at thy birth was giv'n thee in thy hair,

Where strength can least abide, though all thy hairs

Were bristles rang'd like those that ridge the back

Of chaf't wild Boars, or ruffl'd Porcupines.

SAM.

I know no Spells, use no forbidden Arts;

My trust is in the living God who gave me

At my Nativity this strength, diffus'd

No less through all my sinews, joints and bones,

Then thine, while I preserv'd 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 th' 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, what e're 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 fetter'd send thee

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 boyst'rous locks, no worthy match

For valour to assail, nor by the sword

Of noble Warriour, so to stain his honour,

But by the Barbers razor best subdu'd.

SAM.

All these indignities, for such they are

From thine, these evils I deserve and more,

Acknowledge them from God inflicted on me

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

Defie thee to the trial of mortal fight,

By combat to decide whose god is god,

Thine or whom I with Israel's Sons adore.

HAR.

Fair honour that thou dost thy God, in trusting

He will accept thee to defend his cause,

A Murtherer, a Revolter, and a Robber,

SAM.

Tongue-doubtie Giant, how dost thou prove me these?

HAR.

Is not thy Nation subject to our Lords?

Their Magistrates confest it, when they took thee

As a League-breaker and deliver'd bound

Into our hands: for hadst thou not committed

Notorious murder on those thirty men

At Askalon, who never did thee harm,

Then like a Robber stripdst them of thir robes?

The Philistines, when thou hadst broke the league,

Went up with armed powers thee only seeking,

To others did no violence nor spoil.

SAM.

Among the Daughters of the Philistines

I chose a Wife, which argu'd me no foe;

And in your City held my Nuptial Feast:

But your ill-meaning Politician Lords,

Under pretence of Bridal friends and guests,

Appointed to await me thirty spies,

Who threatning cruel death constrain'd the bride

To wring from me and tell to them my secret,

That solv'd the riddle which I had propos'd.

When I perceiv'd all set on enmity,

As on my enemies, where ever chanc'd,

I us'd hostility, and took thir spoil

To pay my underminers in thir coin.

My Nation was subjected to your Lords.

It was the force of Conquest; force with force

Is well ejected when the Conquer'd can.

But I a private person, whom my Countrey

As a league-breaker gave up bound, presum'd

Single Rebellion and did Hostile Acts.

I was no private but a person rais'd

With strength sufficient and command from Heav'n

To free my Countrey; if their servile minds

Me their Deliverer sent would not receive,

But to thir Masters gave me up for nought,

Th' unworthier they; whence to this day they serve.

I was to do my part from Heav'n assign'd,

And had perform'd it if my known offence

Had not disabl'd me, not all your force:

These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant

Though by his blindness maim'd for high attempts,

Who now defies thee thrice to single fight,

As a petty enterprise of small enforce.

HAR.

With thee a Man condemn'd, a Slave enrol'd,

Due by the Law to capital punishment?

To fight with thee no man of arms will deign.

SAM.

Cam'st thou for this, vain boaster, to survey me,

To descant on my strength, and give thy verdit?

Come nearer, part not hence so slight inform'd;

But take good heed my hand survey not thee.

HAR.

O Baal-zebub! can my ears unus'd

Hear these dishonours, and not render death?

SAM.

No man with-holds thee, nothing from thy hand

Fear I incurable; bring up thy van,

My heels are fetter'd, but my fist is free.

HAR.

This insolence other kind of answer fits.

SAMS.

Go baffl'd 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

To the hazard of thy brains and shatter'd sides.

HAR.

By Astaroth e're long thou shalt lament

These braveries in Irons loaden on thee.

CHOR.

His Giantship is gone somewhat crest-fall'n,

Stalking with less unconsci'nable strides,

And lower looks, but in a sultrie chafe.

SAM.

I dread him not, nor all his Giant-brood,

Though Fame divulge him Father of five Sons

All of Gigantic size, Goliah chief.

CHOR.

He will directly to the Lords, I fear,

And with malitious counsel stir them up

Some way or other yet further to afflict thee.

SAM.

He must allege some cause, and offer'd fight

Will not dare mention, lest a question rise

Whether he durst accept the offer or not,

And that he durst not plain enough appear'd.

Much more affliction then 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

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 thir end

Is hate, not help to me, it may with mine

Draw thir own ruin who attempt the deed.

CHOR.

Oh how comely it is and how reviving

To the Spirits of just men long opprest!

When God into the hands of thir deliverer

Puts invincible might

To quell the mighty of the Earth, th' oppressour,

The brute and boist'rous force of violent men

Hardy and industrious to support

Tyrannic power, but raging to pursue

The righteous and all such as honour Truth;

He all thir Ammunition

And feats of War defeats

With plain Heroic magnitude of mind

And celestial vigour arm'd,

Thir Armories and Magazins contemns,

Renders them useless, while

With winged expedition

Swift as the lightning glance he executes

His errand on the wicked, who surpris'd

Lose thir defence distracted and amaz'd.

But patience is more oft the exercise

Of Saints, the trial of thir fortitude,

Making them each his own Deliverer,

And Victor over all

That tryrannie or fortune can inflict,

Either of these is in thy lot,

Samson, with might endu'd

Above the Sons of men; but sight bereav'd

May chance to number thee with those

Whom Patience finally must crown.

This Idols day hath bin to thee no day of rest,

Labouring thy mind

More then the working day thy hands,

And yet perhaps more trouble is behind.

For I descry this way

Some other tending, in his hand

A Scepter or quaint staff he bears,

Comes on amain, speed in his look.

By his habit I discern him now

A Public Officer, and now at hand.

His message will be short and voluble.

OFF.

Ebrews, the Pris'ner Samson here I seek.

CHOR.

His manacles remark him, there he sits.

OFF.

Samson, to thee our Lords thus bid me say;

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;

Rise therefore with all speed and come along,

Where I will see thee heartn'd and fresh clad

To appear as fits before th' illustrious Lords.

SAM.

Thou knowst I am an Ebrew, therefore tell them,

Our Law forbids at thir Religious Rites

My presence; for that cause I cannot come.

OFF.

This answer, be assur'd, will not content them.

SAM.

Have they not Sword-players, and ev'ry sort

Of Gymnic Artists, Wrestlers, Riders, Runners,

Juglers and Dancers, Antics, Mummers, Mimics,

But they must pick me out with shackles tir'd,

And over-labour'd at thir publick Mill,

To make them sport with blind activity?

Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels

On my refusal to distress me more,

Or make a game of my calamities?

Return the way thou cam'st, I will not come.

OFF.

Regard thy self, this will offend them highly.

SAM.

My self? my conscience and internal peace.

Can they think me so broken, so debas'd

With corporal servitude, that my mind ever

Will condescend to such absurd commands?

Although thir drudge, to be thir fool or jester,

And in my midst of sorrow and heart-grief

To shew them feats and play before thir god,

The worst of all indignities, yet on me

Joyn'd with extream contempt? I will not come.

OFF.

My message was impos'd on me with speed,

Brooks no delay: is this thy resolution?

SAM.

So take it with what speed thy message needs.

OFF.

I am sorry what this stoutness will produce.

SA.

Perhaps thou shalt have cause to sorrow indeed.

CHOR.

Consider, Samson; matters now are strain'd

Up to the highth, whether to hold or break;

He's gone, and who knows how he may report

Thy words by adding fuel to the flame?

Expect another message more imperious,

More Lordly thund'ring then thou well wilt bear.

SAM.

Shall I abuse this Consecrated gift

Of strength, again returning with my hair

After my great transgression, so requite

Favour renew'd, and add a greater sin

By prostituting holy things to Idols;

A Nazarite in place abominable

Vaunting my strength in honour to thir Dagon?

Besides, how vile, contemptible, ridiculous,

What act more execrably unclean, prophane?

CHOR.

Yet with this strength thou serv'st the Philistines,

Idolatrous, uncircumcis'd, unclean.

SAM.

Not in thir Idol-worship, but by labour

Honest and lawful to deserve my food

Of those who have me in thir civil power.

CHOR.

Where the heart joins not, outward acts defile not.

SAM.

Where outward force constrains, the sentence holds

But who constrains me to the Temple of Dagon,

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 jealousie

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 needst not doubt.

CHOR.

How thou wilt here come off surmounts my reach.

SAM.

Be of good courage, I begin to feel

Some rouzing morions in me which dispose

To something extraordinary my thoughts.

I with this Messenger will go along,

Nothing to do, be sure, that may dishonour

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.

CHOR.

In time thou hast resolv'd, the man returns.

OFF.

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;

Or we shall find such Engines to assail

And hamper thee, as thou shalt come of force,

Though thou wert firmlier fastn'd then a rock.

SAM.

I could be well content to try thir Art,

Which to no few of them would prove pernicious.

Yet knowing thir advantages too many,

Because they shall not trail me through thir streets

Like a wild Beast, I am content to go.

Masters commands come with a power resistless

To such as owe them absolute subjection;

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.

OFF.

I praise thy resolution, doff these links:

By this compliance thou wilt win the Lords

To favour, and perhaps to set thee free.

SAM.

Brethren farewel, your company along

I will not wish, lest it perhaps offend them

To see me girt with Friends; and how the sight

Of me as of a common Enemy,

So dreaded once, may now exasperate them

I know not. Lords are Lordliest in thir wine;

And the well-feasted Priest then soonest fir'd

With zeal, if aught Religion seem concern'd:

No less the people on thir Holy-days

Impetuous, insolent, unquenchable;

Happ'n what may, of me expect to hear

Nothing dishonourable, impure, unworthy

Our God, our Law, my Nation, or my self,

The last of me or no I cannot warrant.

CHOR.

Go, and the Holy One

Of Israel be thy guide

To what may serve his glory best, & spread his name

Great among the Heathen round:

Send thee the Angel of thy Birth, to stand

Fast by thy side, who from thy Fathers field

Rode up in flames after his message told

Of thy conception, and be now a shield

Of fire; that Spirit that first rusht on thee

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 wond'rous actions hath been seen.

But wherefore comes old Manoa in such hast

With youthful steps? much livelier then e're while

He seems: supposing here to find his Son,

Or of him bringing to us some glad news?

MAN.

Peace with you brethren; my inducement hither

Was not at present here to find my Son,

By order of the Lords new parted hence

To come and play before them at thir Feast.

I heard all as I came, the City rings

And numbers thither flock, I had no will,

Lest I should see him forc't to things unseemly.

But that which mov'd my coming now, was chiefly

To give ye part with me what hope I have

With good success to work his liberty.

CHO.

That hope would much rejoyce us to partake

With thee; say reverend Sire, we thirst to hear.

MAN.

I have attempted one by one the Lords

Either at home, or through the high street passing,

With supplication prone and Fathers tears

To accept of ransom for my Son thir pris'ner,

Some much averse I found and wondrous harsh,

Contemptuous, proud, set on revenge and spite;

That part most reverenc'd Dagon and his Priests,

Others more moderate seeming, but thir aim

Private reward, for which both God and State

They easily would set to sale, a third

More generous far and civil, who confess'd

They had anough reveng'd, having reduc't

Thir foe to misery beneath thir fears,

The rest was magnanimity to remit,

If some convenient ransom were propos'd.

What noise or shout was that? it tore the Skie.

CHOR.

Doubtless the people shouting to behold

Thir once great dread, captive, & blind before them,

Or at some proof of strength before them shown.

MAN.

His ransom, if my whole inheritance

May compass it, shall willingly be paid

And numbered down: much rather I shall chuse

To live the poorest in my Tribe, then richest,

And he in that calamitous prison left.

No, I am fixt 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.

CHOR.

Fathers are wont to lay up for thir Sons,

Thou for thy Son art bent to lay out all;

Sons wont to nurse thir Parents in old age,

Thou in old age car'st how to nurse thy Son

Made older then thy age through eye-sight lost.

MAN.

It shall be my delight to tend his eyes,

And view him sitting in the house, enobl'd

With all those high exploits by him atchiev'd,

And on his shoulders waving down those locks,

That of a Nation arm'd the strength contain'd:

And I perswade me God had not permitted

His strength again to grow up with his hair

Garrison'd round about him like a Camp

Of faithful Souldiery, were not his purpose

To use him further yet in some great service,

Not to sit idle with so great a gift

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.

CHOR.

Thy hopes are not ill founded nor seem vain

Of his delivery, and thy joy thereon

Conceiv'd, agreeable to a Fathers love,

In both which we, as next participate.

MAN.

I know your friendly minds and – O what noise!

Mercy of Heav'n what hideous noise was that!

Horribly loud unlike the former shout.

CHOR.

Noise call you it or universal groan

As if the whole inhabitation perish'd,

Blood, death, and deathful deeds are in that noise,

Ruin, destruction at the utmost point.

MAN.

Of ruin indeed methought I heard the noise,

Oh it continues, they have slain my Son.

CHOR.

Thy Son is rather slaying them, that outcry

From slaughter of one foe could not ascend.

MAN.

Some dismal accident it needs must be;

What shall we do, stay here or run and see?

CHOR.

Best keep together here, lest running thither

We unawares run into dangers mouth.

This evil on the Philistines is fall'n,

From whom could else a general cry be heard?

The sufferers then will scarce molest us here,

From other hands we need not much to fear.

What if his eye-sight (for to Israels God

Nothing is hard) by miracle restor'd,

He now be dealing dole among his foes,

And over heaps of slaughter'd walk his way?

MAN.

That were a joy presumptuous to be thought.

CHOR.

Yet God hath wrought things as incredible

For his people of old; what hinders now?

MAN.

He can I know, but doubt to think he will;

Yet Hope would fain subscribe, and tempts Belief.

A little stay will bring some notice hither.

CHOR.

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.

MESS.

O whither shall I run, or which way flie

The sight of this so horrid spectacle

Which earst my eyes beheld and yet behold;

For dire imagination still persues me.

But providence or instinct of nature seems,

Or reason though disturb'd, and scarse consulted

To have guided me aright, I know not how,

To thee first reverend Manoa, and to these

My Countreymen, whom here I knew remaining,

As at some distance from the place of horrour,

So in the sad event too much concern'd.

MAN.

The accident was loud, & here before thee

With rueful cry, yet what it was we hear not,

No Preface needs, thou seest we long to know.

MESS.

It would burst forth, but I recover breath

And sense distract, to know well what I utter.

MAN.

Tell us the sum, the circumstance defer.

MESS.

Gaza yet stands, but all her Sons are fall'n,

All in a moment overwhelm'd and fall'n.

MAN.

Sad, but thou knowst to Israelites not saddest

The desolation of a Hostile City.

MESS.

Feed on that first, there may in grief be surfet.

MAN.

Relate by whom.

MESS.

By Samson.

MAN.

That still lessens

The sorrow, and converts it nigh to joy.

MESS.

Ah Manoa I refrain, too suddenly

To utter what will come at last too soon;

Lest evil tidings with too rude irruption

Hitting thy aged ear should pierce too deep.

MAN.

Suspense in news is torture, speak them out.

MESS.

Then take the worst in brief, Samson is dead.

MAN.

The worst indeed, O 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 conceiv'd

Hopeful of his Delivery, which now proves

Abortive as the first-born bloom of spring

Nipt with the lagging rear of winters frost.

Yet e're I give the rains to grief, say first,

How dy'd he? death to life is crown or shame.

All by him fell thou say'st, by whom fell he,

What glorious hand gave Samson his deaths wound?

MESS.

Unwounded of his enemies he fell.

MAN.

Wearied with slaughter then or how? explain.

MESS.

By his own hands.

MAN.

Self-violence? what cause

Brought him so soon at variance with himself

Among his foes?

MESS.

Inevitable cause

At once both to destroy and be destroy'd;

The Edifice where all were met to see him

Upon thir heads and on his own he pull'd.

MAN.

O lastly over-strong against thy self!

A dreadful way thou took'st to thy revenge.

More then anough 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.

MESS.

Occasions drew me early to this City,

And as the gates I enter'd with Sun-rise,

The morning Trumpets Festival proclaim'd

Through each high street: little I had dispatch't

When all abroad was rumour'd that this day

Samson should be brought forth to shew the people

Proof of his mighty strength in feats and games;

I sorrow'd at his captive state, but minded

Not to be absent at that spectacle.

The building was a spacious Theatre

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 op'n, where the throng

On banks and scaffolds under Skie might stand;

I among these aloof obscurely stood.

The Feast and noon grew high, and Sacrifice

Had fill'd thir hearts with mirth, high chear, & wine,

When to thir sports they turn'd. Immediately

Was Samson as a public servant brought,

In thir state Livery clad; before him Pipes

And Timbrels, on each side went armed guards,

Both horse and foot before him and behind

Archers, and Slingers, Cataphracts and Spears.

At sight of him the people with a shout

Rifted the Air clamouring thir god with praise,

Who had made thir dreadful enemy thir 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 assay'd,

To heave, pull, draw, or break, he still perform'd

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

(For so from such as nearer stood we heard)

As over-tir'd to let him lean a while

With both his arms on those two massie Pillars

That to the arched roof gave main support.

He unsuspitious led him; which when Samson

Felt in his arms, with head a while enclin'd,

And eyes fast fixt he stood, as one who pray'd,

Or some great matter in his mind revolv'd.

At last with head erect thus cryed aloud,

Hitherto, Lords, what your commands impos'd

I have perform'd, as reason was, obeying,

Not without wonder or delight beheld.

Now of my own accord such other tryal

I mean to shew you of my strength, yet greater;

As with amaze shall strike all who behold.

This utter'd, straining all his nerves he bow'd,

As with the force of winds and waters pent,

When Mountains tremble, those two massie Pillars

With horrible convulsion to and fro,

He tugg'd, he shook, till down they came and drew

The whole roof after them, with burst of thunder

Upon the heads of all who sate beneath,

Lords, Ladies, Captains, Councellors, or Priests,

Thir choice nobility and flower, not only

Of this but each Philistian City round

Met from all parts to solemnize this Feast.

Samson with these immixt, inevitably

Pulld down the same destruction on himself;

The vulgar only scap'd who stood without.

CHOR.

O dearly-bought revenge, yet glorious!

Living or dying thou hast fulfill'd

The work for which thou wast foretold

To Israel, and now ly'st victorious

Among thy slain self-kill'd

Not willingly, but tangl'd in the fold,

Of dire necessity, whose law in death conjoin'd

Thee with thy slaughter'd foes in number more

Then all thy life had slain before.

SEMICHOR.

While thir hearts were jocund and sublime,

Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine,

And fat regorg'd of Bulls and Goats,

Chaunting thir Idol, and preferring

Before our living Dread who dwells

In Silo his bright Sanctuary:

Among them he a spirit of phrenzie sent,

Who hurt thir minds,

And urg'd them on with mad desire

To call in hast for thir destroyer;

They only set on sport and play

Unweetingly importun'd

Thir own destruction to come speedy upon them.

So fond are mortal men

Fall'n into wrath divine,

As thir own ruin on themselves to invite,

Insensate left, or to sense reprobate,

And with blindness internal struck.

SEMICHOR.

But he though blind of sight,

Despis'd and thought extinguish't quite,

With inward eyes illuminated

His fierie vertue rouz'd

From under ashes into sudden flame,

And as an ev'ning Dragon came,

Assailant on the perched roosts,

And nests in order rang'd

Of tame villatic Fowl; but as an Eagle

His cloudless thunder bolted on thir heads.

So vertue giv'n for lost,

Deprest, and overthrown, as seem'd,

Like that self-begott'n bird

In the Arabian woods embost,

That no second knows nor third,

And lay e're while a Holocaust,

From out her ashie womb now teem'd,

Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most

When most unactive deem'd,

And though her body die, her fame survives,

A secular bird ages of lives.

MAN.

Come, come, no time for lamentation now,

Nor much more cause, Samson hath quit himself

Like Samson, and heroicly hath finish'd

A life Heroic, on his Enemies

Fully reveng'd, 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

Find courage to lay hold on this occasion,

To himself and Fathers house eternal fame;

And which is best and happiest yet, all this

With God not parted from him, as was feard,

But favouring and assisting to the end.

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

Sok't 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

To fetch him hence and solemnly attend

With silent obsequie and funeral train

Home to his Fathers house: there will I build him

A Monument, and plant it round with shade

Of Laurel ever green, and branching Palm,

With all his Trophies hung, and Acts enroll'd

In copious Legend, or sweet Lyric Song.

Thither shall all the valiant youth resort,

And from his memory inflame thir breasts

To matchless valour, and adventures high:

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.

CHOR.

All is best, though we oft doubt,

What th' unsearchable dispose

Of highest wisdom brings about,

And ever best found in the close.

Oft he seems to hide his face,

But unexpectedly returns

And to his faithful Champion hath in place

Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns

And all that band them to resist

His uncontroulable intent,

His servants he with new acquist

Of true experience from this great event

With peace and consolation hath dismist,

And calm of mind all passion spent.

The End.