So spake the Son of God, and Satan stood

A while as mute confounded what to say,

What to reply, confuted and convinc't

Of his weak arguing, and fallacious drift;

At length collecting all his Serpent wiles,

With soothing words renew'd, him thus accosts.

I see thou know'st what is of use to know,

What best to say canst say, to do canst do;

Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words

To thy large heart give utterance due, thy heart 10

Conteins of good, wise, just, the perfect shape.

Should Kings and Nations from thy mouth consult,

Thy Counsel would be as the Oracle

Urim and Thummin, those oraculous gems

On Aaron's breast: or tongue of Seers old

Infallible; or wert thou sought to deeds

That might require th' array of war, thy skill

Of conduct would be such, that all the world

Could not sustain thy Prowess, or subsist

In battel, though against thy few in arms. 20

These God-like Vertues wherefore dost thou hide?

Affecting private life, or more obscure

In savage Wilderness, wherefore deprive

All Earth her wonder at thy acts, thy self

The fame and glory, glory the reward

That sole excites to high attempts the flame

Of most erected Spirits, most temper'd pure

Aetherial, who all pleasures else despise,

All treasures and all gain esteem as dross,

And dignities and powers all but the highest? 30

Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe, the Son

Of Macedonian Philip had e're these

Won Asia and the Throne of Cyrus held

At his dispose, young Scipio had brought down

The Carthaginian pride, young Pompey quell'd

The Pontic King and in triumph had rode.

Yet years, and to ripe years judgment mature,

Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.

Great Julius, whom now all the world admires,

The more he grew in years, the more inflam'd 40

With glory, wept that he had liv'd so long

Inglorious: but thou yet art not too late.

To whom our Saviour calmly thus reply'd.

Thou neither dost perswade me to seek wealth

For Empires sake, nor Empire to affect

For glories sake by all thy argument.

For what is glory but the blaze of fame,

The peoples praise, if always praise unmixt?

And what the people but a herd confus'd,

A miscellaneous rabble, who extol 50

Things vulgar, & well weigh'd, scarce worth the praise,

They praise and they admire they know not what;

And know not whom, but as one leads the other;

And what delight to be by such extoll'd,

To live upon thir tongues and be thir talk,

Of whom to be disprais'd were no small praise?

His lot who dares be singularly good.

Th' intelligent among them and the wise

Are few; and glory scarce of few is rais'd.

This is true glory and renown, when God 60

Looking on the Earth, with approbation marks

The just man, and divulges him through Heaven

To all his Angels, who with true applause

Recount his praises; thus he did to Job,

When to extend his fame through Heaven & Earth,

As thou to thy reproach mayst well remember,

He ask'd thee, hast thou seen my servant Job?

Famous he was in Heaven, on Earth less known;

Where glory is false glory, attributed

To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame. 70

They err who count it glorious to subdue

By Conquest far and wide, to over-run

Large Countries, and in field great Battels win,

Great Cities by assault: what do these Worthies,

But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave

Peaceable Nations, neighbouring, or remote,

Made Captive, yet deserving freedom more

Then those thir Conquerours, who leave behind

Nothing but ruin wheresoe're they rove,

And all the flourishing works of peace destroy, 80

Then swell with pride, and must be titl'd Gods,

Great Benefactors of mankind, Deliverers,

Worship't with Temple, Priest and Sacrifice;

One is the Son of Jove, of Mars the other,

Till Conquerour Death discover them scarce men,

Rowling in brutish vices, and deform'd,

Violent or shameful death thir due reward.

But if there be in glory aught of good,

It may by means far different be attain'd

Without ambition, war, or violence; 90

By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent,

By patience, temperance; I mention still

Him whom thy wrongs with Saintly patience born,

Made famous in a Land and times obscure;

Who names not now with honour patient Job?

Poor Socrates (who next more memorable?)

By what he taught and suffer'd for so doing,

For truths sake suffering death unjust, lives now

Equal in fame to proudest Conquerours.

Yet if for fame and glory aught be done, 100

Aught suffer'd; if young African for fame

His wasted Country freed from Punic rage,

The deed becomes unprais'd, the man at least,

And loses, though but verbal, his reward.

Shall I seek glory then, as vain men seek

Oft not deserv'd? I seek not mine, but his

Who sent me, and thereby witness whence I am.

To whom the Tempter murmuring thus reply'd.

Think not so slight of glory; therein least,

Resembling thy great Father: he seeks glory, 110

And for his glory all things made, all things

Orders and governs, nor content in Heaven

By all his Angels glorifi'd, requires

Glory from men, from all men good or bad,

Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption;

Above all Sacrifice, or hallow'd gift

Glory he requires, and glory he receives

Promiscuous from all Nations, Jew, or Greek,

Or Barbarous, nor exception hath declar'd;

From us his foes pronounc't glory he exacts. 120

To whom our Saviour fervently reply'd.

And reason; since his word all things produc'd,

Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,

But to shew forth his goodness, and impart

His good communicable to every soul

Freely; of whom what could he less expect

Then glory and benediction, that is thanks,

The slightest, easiest, readiest recompence

From them who could return him nothing else,

And not returning that would likeliest render 130

Contempt instead, dishonour, obloquy?

Hard recompence, unsutable return

For so much good, so much beneficence.

But why should man seek glory? who of his own

Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs

But condemnation, ignominy, and shame?

Who for so many benefits receiv'd

Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and false,

And so of all true good himself despoil'd,

Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take 140

That which to God alone of right belongs;

Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,

That who advance his glory, not thir own,

Them he himself to glory will advance.

So spake the Son of God; and here again

Satan had not to answer, but stood struck

With guilt of his own sin, for he himself

Insatiable of glory had lost all,

Yet of another Plea bethought him soon.

Of glory as thou wilt, said he, so deem, 150

Worth or not worth the seeking, let it pass:

But to a Kingdom thou art born, ordain'd

To sit upon thy Father David's Throne;

By Mother's side thy Father, though thy right

Be now in powerful hands, that will not part

Easily from possession won with arms;

Judaea now and all the promis'd land

Reduc't a Province under Roman yoke,

Obeys Tiberius; nor is always rul'd

With temperate sway; oft have they violated 160

The Temple, oft the Law with foul affronts,

Abominations rather, as did once

Antiochus: and think'st thou to regain

Thy right by sitting still or thus retiring?

So did not Machabeus: he indeed

Retir'd unto the Desert, but with arms;

And o're a mighty King so oft prevail'd,

That by strong hand his Family obtain'd,

Though Priests, the Crown, and David's Throne usurp'd,

With Modin and her Suburbs once content. 170

If Kingdom move thee not, let move thee Zeal,

And Duty; Zeal and Duty are not slow;

But on Occasions forelock watchful wait.

They themselves rather are occasion best,

Zeal of thy Fathers house, Duty to free

Thy Country from her Heathen servitude;

So shalt thou best fullfil, best verifie

The Prophets old, who sung thy endless raign,

The happier raign the sooner it begins,

Raign then; what canst thou better do the while? 180

To whom our saviour answer thus return'd.

All things are best fullfil'd in thir due time,

And time there is for all things, Truth hath said:

If of my raign Prophetic Writ hath told

That it shall never end, so when begin

The Father in his purpose hath decreed,

He in whose hand all times and seasons roul.

What if he hath decreed that I shall first

Be try'd in humble state, and things adverse,

By tribulations, injuries, insults, 190

Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence,

Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting

Without distrust or doubt, that he may know

What I can suffer, how obey? who best

Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first

Well hath obey'd; just tryal e're I merit

My exaltation without change or end.

But what concerns it thee when I begin

My everlasting Kingdom, why art thou

Sollicitous, what moves thy inquisition? 200

Know'st thou not that my rising is thy fall,

And my promotion will be thy destruction?

To whom the Tempter inly rackt reply'd.

Let that come when it comes; all hope is lost

Of my reception into grace; what worse?

For where no hope is left, is left no fear;

If there be worse, the expectation more

Of worse torments me then the feeling can.

I would be at the worst; worst is my Port.

My harbour and my ultimate repose, 210

The end I would attain, my final good.

My error was my error, and my crime

My crime; whatever for it self condemn'd

And will alike be punish'd; whether thou

Raign or raign not; though to that gentle brow

Willingly I could flye, and hope thy raign,

From that placid aspect and meek regard,

Rather then aggravate my evil state,

Would stand between me and thy Fathers ire,

(Whose ire I dread more then the fire of Hell,) 220

A shelter and a kind of shading cool

Interposition, as a summers cloud.

If I then to the worst that can be hast,

Why move thy feet so slow to what is best,

Happiest both to thy self and all the world,

That thou who worthiest art should'st be thir King?

Perhaps thou linger'st in deep thoughts detain d

Of the enterprize so hazardous and high;

No wonder, for though in thee be united

What of perfection can in man be found, 230

Or human nature can receive, consider

Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent

At home, scarce view'd the Gallilean Towns

And once a year Jerusalem, few days

Short sojourn; and what thence could'st thou observe?

The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,

Empires, and Monarchs, and thir radiant Courts

Best school of best experience, quickest in sight

In all things that to greatest actions lead.

The wisest, unexperienc't, will be ever 240

Timorous and loth, with novice modesty,

(As he who seeking Asses found a Kingdom)

Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous:

But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit

Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes

The Monarchies of the Earth, thir pomp and state,

Sufficient introduction to inform

Thee, of thy self so apt, in regal Arts,

And regal Mysteries; that thou may'st know

How best their opposition to withstand. 250

With that (such power was giv'n him then) he took

The Son of God up to a Mountain high.

It was a Mountain at whose verdant feet

A spatious plain out strech't in circuit wide

Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flow'd,

Th' one winding, the other strait and left between

Fair Champain with less rivers interveind,

Then meeting joyn'd thir tribute to the Sea:

Fertil of corn the glebe, of oyl and wine,

With herds the pastures throng'd, with flocks the hills, 260

Huge Cities and high towr'd, that well might seem

The seats of mightiest Monarchs, and so large

The Prospect was, that here and there was room

For barren desert fountainless and dry.

To this high mountain top the Tempter brought

Our Saviour, and new train of words began.

Well have we speeded, and o're hill and dale,

Forest and field, and flood, Temples and Towers

Cut shorter many a league; here thou behold'st

Assyria and her Empires antient bounds, 270

Araxes and the Caspian lake, thence on

As far as Indus East, Euphrates West,

And oft beyond; to South the Persian Bay,

And inaccessible the Arabian drouth:

Here Ninevee, of length within her wall

Several days journey, built by Ninus old,

Of that first golden Monarchy the seat,

And seat of Salmanassar, whose success

Israel in long captivity still mourns;

There Babylon the wonder of all tongues, 280

As antient, but rebuilt by him who twice

Judah and all thy Father David's house

Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,

Till Cyrus set them free; Persepolis

His City there thou seest, and Bactra there;

Ecbatana her structure vast there shews,

And Hecatompylos her hunderd gates,

There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream,

The drink of none but Kings; of later fame

Built by Emathian, or by Parthian hands, 290

The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there

Artaxata, Teredon, Tesiphon,

Turning with easie eye thou may'st behold.

All these the Parthian, now some Ages past,

By great Arsaces led, who founded first

That Empire, under his dominion holds

From the luxurious Kings of Antioch won.

And just in time thou com'st to have a view

Of his great power; for now the Parthian King

In Ctesiphon hath gather'd all his Host 300

Against the Scythian, whose incursions wild

Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid

He marches now in hast; see, though from far,

His thousands, in what martial equipage

They issue forth, Steel Bows, and Shafts their arms

Of equal dread in flight, or in pursuit;

All Horsemen, in which fight they most excel;

See how in warlike muster they appear,

In Rhombs and wedges, and half moons, and wings.

He look't and saw what numbers numberless 310

The City gates out powr'd, light armed Troops

In coats of Mail and military pride;

In Mail thir horses clad, yet fleet and strong,

Prauncing their riders bore, the flower and choice

Of many Provinces from bound to bound;

From Arachosia, from Candaor East,

And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs

Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales,

From Atropatia and the neighbouring plains

Of Adiabene, Media, and the South 320

Of Susiana to Balsara's hav'n.

He saw them in thir forms of battell rang'd,

How quick they wheel'd, and flying behind them shot

Sharp sleet of arrowie showers against the face

Of thir pursuers, and overcame by flight;

The field all iron cast a gleaming brown,

Nor wanted clouds of foot, nor on each horn,

Cuirassiers all in steel for standing fight;

Chariots or Elephants endorst with Towers

Of Archers, nor of labouring Pioners 330

A multitude with Spades and Axes arm'd

To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill,

Or where plain was raise hill, or over-lay

With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke;

Mules after these, Camels and Dromedaries,

And Waggons fraught with Utensils of war.

Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp,

When Agrican with all his Northern powers

Besieg'd Albracca, as Romances tell;

The City of Gallaphrone, from thence to win 340

The fairest of her Sex Angelica

His daughter, sought by many Prowest Knights,

Both Paynim, and the Peers of Charlemane.

Such and so numerous was thir Chivalrie;

At sight whereof the Fiend yet more presum'd,

And to our Saviour thus his words renew'd.

That thou may'st know I seek not to engage

Thy Vertue, and not every way secure

On no slight grounds thy safety; hear, and mark

To what end I have brought thee hither and shewn 350

All this fair sight; thy Kingdom though foretold

By Prophet or by Angel, unless thou

Endeavour, as thy Father David did,

Thou never shalt obtain; prediction still

In all things, and all men, supposes means,

Without means us'd, what it predicts revokes.

But say thou wer't possess'd of David's Throne

By free consent of all, none opposite,

Samaritan or Jew; how could'st thou hope

Long to enjoy it quiet and secure, 360

Between two such enclosing enemies

Roman and Parthian? therefore one of these

Thou must make sure thy own, the Parthian first

By my advice, as nearer and of late

Found able by invasion to annoy

Thy country, and captive lead away her Kings

Antigonus, and old Hyrcanus bound,

Maugre the Roman: it shall be my task

To render thee the Parthian at dispose;

Chuse which thou wilt by conquest or by league 370

By him thou shalt regain, without him not,

That which alone can truly reinstall thee

In David's royal seat, his true Successour,

Deliverance of thy brethren, those ten Tribes

Whose off-spring in his Territory yet serve

In Habor, and among the Medes dispers't,

Ten Sons of Jacob, two of Joseph lost

Thus long from Israel; serving as of old

Thir Fathers in the land of Egypt serv'd,

This offer sets before thee to deliver. 380

These if from servitude thou shalt restore

To thir inheritance, then, nor till then,

Thou on the Throne of David in full glory,

From Egypt to Euphrates and beyond

Shalt raign, and Rome or Caesar not need fear.

To whom our Saviour answer'd thus unmov'd.

Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm,

And fragile arms, much instrument of war

Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought,

Before mine eyes thou hast set; and in my ear 390

Vented much policy, and projects deep

Of enemies, of aids, battels and leagues,

Plausible to the world, to me worth naught.

Means I must use thou say'st, prediction else

Will unpredict and fail me of the Throne:

My time I told thee, (and that time for thee

Were better farthest off) is not yet come;

When that comes think not thou to find me slack

On my part aught endeavouring, or to need

Thy politic maxims, or that cumbersome 400

Luggage of war there shewn me, argument

Of human weakness rather then of strength.

My brethren, as thou call'st them; those Ten Tribes

I must deliver, if I mean to raign

David's true heir, and his full Scepter sway

To just extent over all Israel's Sons;

But whence to thee this zeal, where was it then

For Israel or for David, or his Throne,

When thou stood'st up his Tempter to the pride

Of numbring Israel which cost the lives 410

Of threescore and ten thousand Israelites

By three days Pestilence? such was thy zeal

To Israel then, the same that now to me.

As for those captive Tribes, themselves were they

Who wrought their own captivity, fell off

From God to worship Calves, the Deities

Of Egypt, Baal next and Ashtaroth,

And all the Idolatries of Heathen round,

Besides thir other worse then heathenish crimes;

Nor in the land of their captivity 420

Humbled themselves, or penitent besought

The God of their fore-fathers; but so dy'd

Impenitent, and left a race behind

Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce

From Gentils, but by Circumcision vain,

And God with Idols in their worship joyn'd.

Should I of these the liberty regard,

Who freed, as to their antient Patrimony,

Unhumbl'd, unrepentant, unreform'd,

Headlong would follow; and to thir Gods perhaps 430

Of Bethel and of Dan? no, let them serve

Thir enemies, who serve Idols with God.

Yet he at length, time to himself best known,

Remembring Abraham by some wond'rous call

May bring them back repentant and sincere,

And at their passing cleave the Assyrian flood,

While to their native land with joy they hast,

As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft,

When to the promis'd land thir Fathers pass'd;

To his due time and providence I leave them. 440

So spake Israel's true King, and to the Fiend

Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles.

So fares it when with truth falshood contends.

The End of the Third Book.

The Fourth Book.

PERPLEX'D and troubl'd at his bad success

The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply,

Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope,

So oft, and the perswasive Rhetoric

That sleek't his tongue, and won so much on Eve,

So little here, nay lost; but Eve was Eve,

This far his over-match, who self deceiv'd

And rash, before-hand had no better weigh'd

The strength he was to cope with, or his own:

But as a man who had been matchless held 10

In cunning, over-reach't where least he thought,

To salve his credit, and for very spight

Still will be tempting him who foyls him still,

And never cease, though to his shame the more;

Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time,

About the wine-press where sweet moust is powr'd,

Beat off; returns as oft with humming sound;

Or surging waves against a solid rock,

Though all to shivers dash't, the assault renew,

Vain battry, and in froth or bubbles end: 20

So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse

Met ever; and to shameful silence brought,

Yet gives not o're though desperate of success,

And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Saviour to the western side

Of that high mountain, whence he might behold

Another plain, long but in bredth not wide;

Wash'd by the Southern Sea, and on the North

To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills

That screen'd the fruits of the earth and seats of men 30

From cold Septentrion blasts, thence in the midst

Divided by a river, of whose banks

On each side an Imperial City stood,

With Towers and Temples proudly elevate

On seven small Hills, with Palaces adorn'd,

Porches and Theatres, Baths, Aqueducts,

Statues and Trophees, and Triumphal Arcs,

Gardens and Groves presented to his eyes,

Above the highth of Mountains interpos'd.

By what strange Parallax or Optic skill 40

Of vision multiplyed through air or glass

Of Telescope, were curious to enquire:

And now the Tempter thus his silence broke.

The City which thou seest no other deem

Then great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth

So far renown'd, and with the spoils enricht

Of Nations; there the Capitol thou seest

Above the rest lifting his stately head

On the Tarpeian rock, her Cittadel

Impregnable, and there Mount Palatine 50

The Imperial Palace, compass huge, and high

The Structure, skill of noblest Architects,

With gilded battlements, conspicuous far,

Turrets and Terrases, and glittering Spires.

Many a fair Edifice besides, more like

Houses of Gods (so well I have dispos'd

My Aerie Microscope) thou may'st behold

Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs

Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd Artificers

In Cedar, Marble, Ivory or Gold. 60

Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see

What conflux issuing forth, or entring in,

Pretors, Proconsuls to thir Provinces

Hasting or on return, in robes of State;

Lictors and rods the ensigns of thir power,

Legions and Cohorts, turmes of horse and wings:

Or Embassies from Regions far remote

In various habits on the Appian road,

Or on the Aemilian, some from farthest South,

Syene, and where the shadow both way falls, 70

Meroe, Nilotic Isle, and more to West,

The Realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor Sea;

From the Asian Kings and Parthian among these,

From India 'and the golden Chersoness,

And utmost Indian Isle Taprobane,

Dusk faces with white silken Turbants wreath'd:

From Gallia, Gades, and the Brittish West,

Germans and Scythians, and Sarmatians North

Beyond Danubius to the Tauric Pool.

All Nations now to Rome obedience pay, 80

To Rome's great Emperour, whose wide domain

In ample Territory, wealth and power,

Civility of Manners, Arts, and Arms,

And long Renown thou justly may'st prefer

Before the Parthian; these two Thrones except,

The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight,

Shar'd among petty Kings too far remov'd;

These having shewn thee, I have shewn thee all

The Kingdoms of the world, and all thir glory.

This Emperour hath no Son, and now is old, 90

Old, and lascivious, and from Rome retir'd

To Capreae an Island small but strong

On the Campanian shore, with purpose there

His horrid lusts in private to enjoy,

Committing to a wicked Favourite

All publick cares, and yet of him suspicious,

Hated of all, and hating; with what ease

Indu'd with Regal Vertues as thou art,

Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,

Might'st thou expel this monster from his Throne 100

Now made a stye, and in his place ascending

A victor people free from servile yoke?

And with my help thou may'st; to me the power

Is given, and by that right I give it thee.

Aim therefore at no less then all the world,

Aim at the highest, without the highest attain'd

Will be for thee no sitting, or not long

On Davids Throne, be propheci'd what will,

To whom the Son of God unmov'd reply'd.

Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show 110

Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,

More then of arms before, allure mine eye,

Much less my mind; though thou should'st add to tell

Thir sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts

On Cittron tables or Atlantic stone;

(For I have also heard, perhaps have read)

Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,

Chios and Creet, and how they quaff in Gold,

Crystal and Myrrhine cups imboss'd with Gems

And studs of Pearl, to me should'st tell who thirst 120

And hunger still: then Embassies thou shew'st

From Nations far and nigh; what honour that,

But tedious wast of time to sit and hear

So many hollow complements and lies,

Outlandish flatteries? then proceed'st to talk

Of the Emperour, how easily subdu'd,

How gloriously; I shall, thou say'st, expel

A brutish monster: what if I withal

Expel a Devil who first made him such?

Let his tormenter Conscience find him out, 130

For him I was not sent, nor yet to free

That people victor once, now vile and base,

Deservedly made vassal, who once just,

Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquer'd well,

But govern ill the Nations under yoke,

Peeling thir Provinces, exhausted all

By lust and rapine; first ambitious grown

Of triumph that insulting vanity;

Then cruel, by thir sports to blood enur'd

Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd, 140

Luxurious by thir wealth, and greedier still,

And from the daily Scene effeminate.

What wise and valiant man would seek to free

These thus degenerate, by themselves enslav'd,

Or could of inward slaves make outward free?

Know therefore when my season comes to sit

On David's Throne, it shall be like a tree

Spreading and over-shadowing all the Earth,

Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash

All Monarchies besides throughout the world, 150

And of my Kingdom there shall be no end:

Means there shall be to this, but what the means,

Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell.

To whom the Tempter impudent repli'd.

I see all offers made by me how slight

Thou valu'st, because offer'd, and reject'st:

Nothing will please the difficult and nice,

Or nothing more then still to contradict:

On the other side know also thou, that I

On what I offer set as high esteem, 160

Nor what I part with mean to give for naught;

All these which in a moment thou behold'st,

The Kingdoms of the world to thee I give;

For giv'n to me, I give to whom I please,

No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else,

On this condition, if thou wilt fall down,

And worship me as thy superior Lord,

Easily done, and hold them all of me;

For what can less so great a gift deserve?

Whom thus our Saviour answer'd with disdain. 170

I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers less,

Now both abhor, since thou hast dar'd to utter

The abominable terms, impious condition;

But I endure the time, till which expir'd,

Thou hast permission on me. It is written

The first of all Commandments, Thou shalt worship

The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve;

And dar'st thou to the Son of God propound

To worship thee accurst, now more accurst

For this attempt bolder then that on Eve, 180

And more blasphemous? which expect to rue.

The Kingdoms of the world to thee were giv'n,

Permitted rather, and by thee usurp't,

Other donation none thou canst produce:

If given, by whom but by the King of Kings,

God over all supreme? if giv'n to thee,

By thee how fairly is the Giver now

Repaid? But gratitude in thee is lost

Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame,

As offer them to me the Son of God, 190

To me my own, on such abhorred pact,

That I fall down and worship thee as God?

Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st

That Evil one, Satan for ever damn'd.

To whom the Fiend with fear abasht reply'd.

Be not so sore offended, Son of God;

Though Sons of God both Angels are and Men,

If I to try whether in higher sort

Then these thou bear'st that title, have propos'd

What both from Men and Angels I receive, 200

Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the earth

Nations besides from all the quarter'd winds,

God of this world invok't and world beneath;

Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold

To me so fatal, me it most concerns.

The tryal hath indamag'd thee no way,

Rather more honour left and more esteem;

Me naught advantag'd, missing what I aim'd.

Therefore let pass, as they are transitory,

The Kingdoms of this world; I shall no more 210

Advise thee, gain them as thou canst, or not.

And thou thy self seem'st otherwise inclin'd

Then to a worldly Crown, addicted more

To contemplation and profound dispute,

As by that early action may be judg'd,

When slipping from thy Mothers eye thou went'st

Alone into the Temple; there was found

Among the gravest Rabbies disputant

On points and questions fitting Moses Chair,

Teaching not taught; the childhood shews the man, 220

As morning shews the day. Be famous then

By wisdom; as thy Empire must extend,

So let extend thy mind o're all the world,

In knowledge, all things in it comprehend,

All knowledge is not couch't in Moses Law,

The Pentateuch or what the Prophets wrote,

The Gentiles also know, and write, and teach

To admiration, led by Natures light;

And with the Gentiles much thou must converse,

Ruling them by perswasion as thou mean'st, 230

Without thir learning how wilt thou with them,

Or they with thee hold conversation meet?

How wilt thou reason with them, how refute

Thir Idolisms, Traditions, Paradoxes?

Error by his own arms is best evinc't.

Look once more e're we leave this specular Mount

Westward, much nearer by Southwest, behold

Where on the Aegean shore a City stands

Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil,

Athens the eye of Greece, Mother of Arts 240

And Eloquence, native to famous wits

Or hospitable, in her sweet recess,

City or Suburban, studious walks and shades;

See there the Olive Grove of Academe,

Plato's retirement, where the Attic Bird

Trills her thick-warbl'd notes the summer long,

There flowrie hill Hymettus with the sound

Of Bees industrious murmur oft invites

To studious musing; there Ilissus rouls

His whispering stream; within the walls then view 250

The schools of antient Sages; his who bred

Great Alexander to subdue the world,

Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next:

There thou shalt hear and learn the secret power

Of harmony in tones and numbers hit

By voice or hand, and various-measur'd verse,

Aeolian charms and Dorian Lyric Odes,

And his who gave them breath, but higher sung,

Blind Melesigenes thence Homer call'd,

Whose Poem Phoebus challeng'd for his own. 260

Thence what the lofty grave Tragoedians taught

In Chorus or Iambic, teachers best

Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd

In brief sententious precepts, while they treat

Of fate, and chance, and change in human life;

High actions, and high passions best describing;

Thence to the famous Orators repair,

Those antient, whose resistless eloquence

Wielded at will that fierce Democratie,

Shook the Arsenal and fulmin'd over Greece, 270

To Macedon, and Artaxerxes Throne;

To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear,

From Heaven descended to the low-rooft house

Of Socrates, see there his Tenement,

Whom well inspir'd the Oracle pronounc'd

Wisest of men; from whose mouth issu'd forth

Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools

Of Academics old and new, with those

Sirnam'd Peripatetics, and the Sect

Epicurean, and the Stoic severe; 280

These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home,

Till time mature thee to a Kingdom's waight;

These rules will render thee a King compleat

Within thy self, much more with Empire joyn'd.

To whom our Saviour sagely thus repli'd.

Think not but that I know these things, or think

I know them not; not therefore am I short

Of knowing what I aught: he who receives

Light from above, from the fountain of light,

No other doctrine needs, though granted true; 290

But these are false, or little else but dreams,

Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.

The first and wisest of them all profess'd

To know this only, that he nothing knew;

The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits,

A third sort doubted all things, though plain sence;

Others in vertue plac'd felicity,

But vertue joyn'd with riches and long life,

In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease,

The Stoic last in Philosophic pride, 300

By him call'd vertue; and his vertuous man,

Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing

Equal to God, oft shames not to prefer,

As fearing God nor man, contemning all

Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life,

Which when he lists, he leaves, or boasts he can,

For all his tedious talk is but vain boast,

Or subtle shifts conviction to evade.

Alas what can they teach, and not mislead;

Ignorant of themselves, of God much more, 310

And how the world began, and how man fell

Degraded by himself, on grace depending?

Much of the Soul they talk, but all awrie,

And in themselves seek vertue, and to themselves

All glory arrogate, to God give none,

Rather accuse him under usual names,

Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite

Of mortal things. Who therefore seeks in these

True wisdom, finds her not, or by delusion

Far worse, her false resemblance only meets, 320

An empty cloud. However many books

Wise men have said are wearisom; who reads

Incessantly, and to his reading brings not

A spirit and judgment equal or superior,

(And what he brings, what needs he elsewhere seek)

Uncertain and unsettl'd still remains

Deep verst in books and shallow in himself;

Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys,

And trifles for choice matters, worth a spunge;

As Children gathering pibles on the shore. 330

Or if I would delight my private hours

With Music or with Poem, where so soon

As in our native Language can I find

That solace? All our Law and Story strew'd

With Hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscrib'd,

Our Hebrew Songs and Harps in Babylon,

That pleas'd so well our Victors ear, declare

That rather Greece from us these Arts deriv'd;

Ill imitated, while they loudest sing

The vices of thir Deities, and thir own 340

In Fable, Hymn, or Song, so personating

Thir Gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame.

Remove their swelling Epithetes thick laid

As varnish on a Harlots cheek, the rest,

Thin sown with aught of profit or delight,

Will far be found unworthy to compare

With Sion's songs, to all true tasts excelling,

Where God is prais'd aright, and Godlike men,

The Holiest of Holies, and his Saints;

Such are from God inspir'd, not such from thee; 350

Unless where moral vertue is express't

By light of Nature not in all quite lost.

Thir Orators thou then extoll'st, as those

The top of Eloquence, Statists indeed,

And lovers of thir Country, as may seem;

But herein to our Prophets far beneath,

As men divinely taught, and better teaching

The solid rules of Civil Government

In thir majestic unaffected stile

Then all the Oratory of Greece and Rome. 360

In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt,

What makes a Nation happy, and keeps it so,

What ruins Kingdoms, and lays Cities flat;

These only with our Law best form a King.

So spake the Son of God; but Satan now

Quite at a loss, for all his darts were spent,

Thus to our Saviour with stern brow reply'd.

Since neither wealth, nor honour, arms nor arts,

Kingdom nor Empire pleases thee, nor aught

By me propos'd in life contemplative,

Or active, tended on by glory, or fame, 370

What dost thou in this World? the Wilderness

For thee is fittest place, I found thee there,

And thither will return thee, yet remember

What I foretell thee, soon thou shalt have cause

To wish thou never hadst rejected thus

Nicely or cautiously my offer'd aid,

Which would have set thee in short time with ease

On David's Throne; or Throne of all the world,

Now at full age, fulness of time, thy season, 380

When Prophesies of thee are best fullfill'd.

Now contrary, if I read aught in Heaven,

Or Heav'n write aught of Fate, by what the Stars

Voluminous, or single characters,

In thir conjunction met, give me to spell,

Sorrows, and labours, Opposition, hate,

Attends thee, scorns, reproaches, injuries,

Violence and stripes, and lastly cruel death,

A Kingdom they portend thee, but what Kingdom,

Real or Allegoric I discern not, 390

Nor when, eternal sure, as without end,

Without beginning; for no date prefixt

Directs me in the Starry Rubric set.

So saying he took (for still he knew his power

Not yet expir'd) and to the Wilderness

Brought back the Son of God, and left him there,

Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose,

As day-light sunk, and brought in lowring night

Her shadowy off-spring unsubstantial both,

Privation meer of light and absent day. 400

Our Saviour meek and with untroubl'd mind

After his aerie jaunt, though hurried sore,

Hungry and cold betook him to his rest,

Wherever, under some concourse of shades

Whose branching arms thick intertwind might shield

From dews and damps of night his shelter'd head,

But shelter'd slept in vain, for at his head

The Tempter watch'd, and soon with ugly dreams

Disturb'd his sleep; and either Tropic now

'Gan thunder, and both ends of Heav'n, the Clouds 410

From many a horrid rift abortive pour'd

Fierce rain with lightning mixt, water with fire

In ruine reconcil'd: nor slept the winds

Within thir stony caves, but rush'd abroad

From the four hinges of the world, and fell

On the vext Wilderness, whose tallest Pines,

Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest Oaks

Bow'd thir Stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts,

Or torn up sheer: ill wast thou shrouded then,

O patient Son of God, yet only stoodst 420

Unshaken; nor yet staid the terror there,

Infernal Ghosts, and Hellish Furies, round

Environ'd thee, some howl'd, some yell'd, some shriek'd,

Some bent at thee thir fiery darts, while thou

Sat'st unappall'd in calm and sinless peace.

Thus pass'd the night so foul till morning fair

Came forth with Pilgrim steps in amice gray;

Who with her radiant finger still'd the roar

Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds,

And grisly Spectres, which the Fiend had rais'd 430

To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire.

And now the Sun with more effectual beams

Had chear'd the face of Earth, and dry'd the wet

From drooping plant, or dropping tree; the birds

Who all things now behold more fresh and green,

After a night of storm so ruinous,

Clear'd up their choicest notes in bush and spray

To gratulate the sweet return of morn;

Nor yet amidst this joy and brightest morn

Was absent, after all his mischief done, 440

The Prince of darkness, glad would also seem

Of this fair change, and to our Saviour came,

Yet with no new device, they all were spent,

Rather by this his last affront resolv'd,

Desperate of better course, to vent his rage,

And mad despight to be so oft repell'd.

Him walking on a Sunny hill he found,

Back'd on the North and West by a thick wood,

Out of the wood he starts in wonted shape;

And in a careless mood thus to him said. 450

Fair morning yet betides thee Son of God,

After a dismal night; I heard the rack

As Earth and Skie would mingle; but my self

Was distant; and these flaws, though mortals fear them

As dangerous to the pillard frame of Heaven,

Or to the Earths dark basis underneath,

Are to the main as inconsiderable,

And harmless, if not wholsom, as a sneeze

To mans less universe, and soon are gone;

Yet as being oft times noxious where they light 460

On man, beast, plant, wastful and turbulent,

Like turbulencies in the affairs of men,

Over whose heads they rore, and seem to point,

They oft fore-signifie and threaten ill:

This Tempest at this Desert most was bent;

Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st.

Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject

The perfet season offer'd with my aid

To win thy destin'd seat, but wilt prolong

All to the push of Fate, persue thy way 470

Of gaining David's Throne no man knows when,

For both the when and how is no where told,

Thou shalt be what thou art ordain'd, no doubt;

For Angels have proclaim'd it, but concealing

The time and means: each act is rightliest done,

Not when it must, but when it may be best.

If thou observe not this, be sure to find,

What I foretold thee, many a hard assay

Of dangers, and adversities and pains,

E're thou of Israel's Scepter get fast hold; 480

Whereof this ominous night that clos'd thee round,

So many terrors, voices, prodigies

May warn thee, as a sure fore-going sign.

So talk'd he, while the Son of God went on

And staid not, but in brief him answer'd thus.

Mee worse then wet thou find'st not; other harm

Those terrors which thou speak'st of did me none;

I never fear'd they could, though noising loud

And threatning nigh; what they can do as signs

Betok'ning, or ill boding, I contemn 490

As false portents, not sent from God, but thee;

Who knowing I shall raign past thy preventing.

Obtrud'st thy offer'd aid, that I accepting

At least might seem to hold all power of thee,

Ambitious spirit, and wouldst be thought my God,

And storm'st refus'd, thinking to terrifie

Mee to thy will; desist, thou art discern'd

And toil'st in vain, nor me in vain molest.

To whom the Fiend now swoln with rage reply'd:

Then hear, O Son of David, Virgin-born; 500

For Son of God to me is yet in doubt,

Of the Messiah I have heard foretold

By all the Prophets; of thy birth at length

Announc't by Gabriel with the first I knew,

And of the Angelic Song in Bethlehem field,

On thy birth-night, that sung thee Saviour born.

From that time seldom have I ceas'd to eye

Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth,

Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred;

Till at the Ford of Jordan whither all 510

Flock'd to the Baptist, I among the rest,

Though not to be Baptiz'd, by voice from Heav'n

Heard thee pronounc'd the Son of God belov'd.

Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view

And narrower Scrutiny, that I might learn

In what degree or meaning thou art call'd

The Son of God, which bears no single sence;

The Son of God I also am, or was,

And if I was, I am; relation stands;

All men are Sons of God; yet thee I thought 520

In some respect far higher so declar'd.

Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour,

And follow'd thee still on to this wast wild;

Where by all best conjectures I collect

Thou art to be my fatal enemy.

Good reason then, if I before-hand seek

To understand my Adversary, who

And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent,

By parl, or composition, truce, or league

To win him, or win from him what I can. 530

And opportunity I here have had

To try thee, sift thee, and confess have found thee

Proof against all temptation as a rock

Of Adamant, and as a Center, firm

To the utmost of meer man both wise and good,

Not more; for Honours, Riches, Kingdoms, Glory

Have been before contemn'd, and may agen:

Therefore to know what more thou art then man,

Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heav'n,

Another method I must now begin. 540

So saying he caught him up, and without wing

Of Hippogrif bore through the Air sublime

Over the Wilderness and o're the Plain;

Till underneath them fair Jerusalem,

The holy City lifted high her Towers,

And higher yet the glorious Temple rear'd

Her pile, far off appearing like a Mount

Of Alabaster, top't with golden Spires:

There on the highest Pinacle he set

The Son of God; and added thus in scorn: 550

There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright

Will ask thee skill; I to thy Fathers house

Have brought thee, and highest plac't, highest is best,

Now shew thy Progeny; if not to stand,

Cast thy self down; safely if Son of God:

For it is written, He will give command

Concerning thee to his Angels, in thir hands

They shall up lift thee, lest at any time

Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.

To whom thus Jesus: also it is written, 560

Tempt not the Lord thy God, he said and stood.

But Satan smitten with amazement fell

As when Earths Son Antaeus (to compare

Small things with greatest) in Irassa strove

With Joves Alcides and oft foil'd still rose,

Receiving from his mother Earth new strength,

Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joyn'd,

Throttl'd at length in the Air, expir'd and fell;

So after many a foil the Tempter proud,

Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride 570

Fell whence he stood to see his Victor fall.

And as that Theban Monster that propos'd

Her riddle, and him, who solv'd it not, devour'd;

That once found out and solv'd, for grief and spight

Cast her self headlong from th' Ismenian steep,

So strook with dread and anguish fell the Fiend,

And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought

Joyless triumphals of his hop't success,

Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,

Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God. 580

So Satan fell and strait a fiery Globe

Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,

Who on their plumy Vans receiv'd him soft

From his uneasie station, and upbore

As on a floating couch through the blithe Air,

Then in a flowry valley set him down

On a green bank, and set before him spred

A table of Celestial Food, Divine,

Ambrosial, Fruits fetcht from the tree of life,

And from the fount of life Ambrosial drink, 590

That soon refresh'd him wearied, and repair'd

What hunger, if aught hunger had impair'd,

Or thirst, and as he fed, Angelic Quires

Sung Heavenly Anthems of his victory

Over temptation, and the Tempter proud.

True Image of the Father whether thron'd

In the bosom of bliss, and light of light

Conceiving, or remote from Heaven, enshrin'd

In fleshly Tabernacle, and human form,

Wandring the Wilderness, whatever place, 600

Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing

The Son of God, with Godlike force indu'd

Against th' Attempter of thy Fathers Throne,

And Thief of Paradise; him long of old

Thou didst debel, and down from Heav'n cast

With all his Army, now thou hast aveng'd

Supplanted Adam, and by vanquishing

Temptation, hast regain'd lost Paradise,

And frustrated the conquest fraudulent:

He never more henceforth will dare set foot 610

In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke:

For though that seat of earthly bliss be fail'd,

A fairer Paradise is founded now

For Adam and his chosen Sons, whom thou

A Saviour art come down to re-install.

Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be

Of Tempter and Temptation without fear.

But thou, Infernal Serpent, shalt not long

Rule in the Clouds; like an Autumnal Star

Or Lightning thou shalt fall from Heav'n trod down 620

Under his feet: for proof, e're this thou feel'st

Thy wound, yet not thy last and deadliest wound

By this repulse receiv'd, and hold'st in Hell

No triumph; in all her gates Abaddon rues

Thy bold attempt; hereafter learn with awe

To dread the Son of God: he all unarm'd

Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice

From thy Demoniac holds, possession foul,

Thee and thy Legions, yelling they shall flye,

And beg to hide them in a herd of Swine, 630

Lest he command them down into the deep

Bound, and to torment sent before thir time.

Hail Son of the most High, heir of both worlds,

Queller of Satan, on thy glorious work

Now enter, and begin to save mankind.

Thus they the Son of God our Saviour meek

Sung Victor, and from Heavenly Feast refresht

Brought on his way with joy; hee unobserv'd

Home to his Mothers house private return'd.

The End.

Transcriber's Note: Title page of first edition of Samson Agonistes

follows:

SAMSON

AGONISTES,

A

DRAMATIC POEM.

------------------------------------------------------------

The Author

JOHN MILTON

------------------------------------------------------------

Aristot. Poet. Cap. 6.

Tragedia mimeis praxeos spadaias, &c.

Tragedia est imitatio actionis seriae. &c. Per misericordiam &

metum perficiens talium affectuum lustrationem.

------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------

LONDON.

Printed by J.M. for John Starkey at the

Mitre in Fleetstreet, near Temple-Bar.

MDCLXXI

SAMSON AGONISTES

Of that sort of Dramatic Poem which is call'd Tragedy.

TRAGEDY, as it was antiently compos'd, hath been ever held the gravest,

moralest, and most profitable of all other Poems: therefore said by

Aristotle to be of power by raising pity and fear, or terror, to purge

the mind of those and such like passions, that is to temper and reduce

them to just measure with a kind of delight, stirr'd up by reading or

seeing those passions well imitated. Nor is Nature wanting in her own

effects to make good his assertion: for so in Physic things of

melancholic hue and quality are us'd against melancholy, sowr against

sowr, salt to remove salt humours. Hence Philosophers and other gravest

Writers, as Cicero, Plutarch and others, frequently cite out of Tragic

Poets, both to adorn and illustrate thir discourse. The Apostle Paul

himself thought it not unworthy to insert a verse of Euripides into the

Text of Holy Scripture, I Cor. 15. 33. and Paraeus commenting on the

Revelation, divides the whole Book as a Tragedy, into Acts distinguisht

each by a Chorus of Heavenly Harpings and Song between. Heretofore Men

in highest dignity have labour'd not a little to be thought able to

compose a Tragedy. Of that honour Dionysius the elder was no less

ambitious, then before of his attaining to the Tyranny. Augustus Caesar

also had begun his Ajax, but unable to please his own judgment with what

he had begun, left it unfinisht. Seneca the Philosopher is by some

thought the Author of those Tragedies (at lest the best of them) that go

under that name. Gregory Nazianzen a Father of the Church, thought it

not unbeseeming the sanctity of his person to write a Tragedy which he

entitl'd, Christ suffering. This is mention'd to vindicate Tragedy from

the small esteem, or rather infamy, which in the account of many it

undergoes at this day with other common Interludes; hap'ning through the

Poets error of intermixing Comic stuff with Tragic sadness and gravity;

or introducing trivial and vulgar persons, which by all judicious hath

bin counted absurd; and brought in without discretion, corruptly to

gratifie the people. And though antient Tragedy use no Prologue, yet

using sometimes, in case of self defence, or explanation, that which

Martial calls an Epistle; in behalf of this Tragedy coming forth after

the antient manner, much different from what among us passes for best,

thus much before-hand may be Epistl'd; that Chorus is here introduc'd

after the Greek manner, not antient only but modern, and still in use

among the Italians. In the modelling therefore of this Poem with good

reason, the Antients and Italians are rather follow'd, as of much more

authority and fame. The measure of Verse us'd in the Chorus is of all

sorts, call'd by the Greeks Monostrophic, or rather Apolelymenon,

without regard had to Strophe, Antistrophe or Epod, which were a kind of

Stanza's fram'd only for the Music, then us'd with the Chorus that sung;

not essential to the Poem, and therefore not material; or being divided

into Stanza's or Pauses they may be call'd Allaeostropha. Division into

Act and Scene referring chiefly to the Stage (to which this work never

was intended) is here omitted.

It suffices if the whole Drama be found not produc't beyond the fift

Act, of the style and uniformitie, and that commonly call'd the Plot,

whether intricate or explicit, which is nothing indeed but such

oeconomy, or disposition of the fable as may stand best with

verisimilitude and decorum; they only will best judge who are not

unacquainted with Aeschulus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the three Tragic

Poets unequall'd yet by any, and the best rule to all who endeavour to

write Tragedy. The circumscription of time wherein the whole Drama

begins and ends, is according to antient rule, and best example, within

the space of 24 hours.

The Argument.

Samson made Captive, Blind, and now in the Prison at Gaza, there to

labour as in a common work-house, on a Festival day, in the general

cessation from labour, comes forth into the open Air, to a place nigh,

somewhat retir'd there to sit a while and bemoan his condition. Where he

happens at length to be visited by certain friends and equals of his

tribe, which make the Chorus, who seek to comfort him what they can;

then by his old Father Manoa, who endeavours the like, and withal tells

him his purpose to procure his liberty by ransom; lastly, that this

Feast was proclaim'd by the Philistins as a day of Thanksgiving for thir

deliverance from the hands of Samson, which yet more troubles him.

Manoa then departs to prosecute his endeavour with the Philistian Lords

for Samson's redemption; who in the mean while is visited by other

persons; and lastly by a publick Officer to require coming to the Feast

before the Lords and People, to play or shew his strength in thir

presence; he at first refuses, dismissing the publick officer with

absolute denyal to come; at length perswaded inwardly that this was from

God, he yields to go along with him, who came now the second time with

great threatnings to fetch him; the Chorus yet remaining on the place,

Manoa returns full of joyful hope, to procure e're long his Sons

deliverance: in the midst of which discourse an Ebrew comes in haste

confusedly at first; and afterward more distinctly relating the

Catastrophe, what Samson had done to the Philistins, and by accident to

himself; wherewith the Tragedy ends.

The Persons

Samson.

Manoa the father of Samson.

Dalila his wife.

Harapha of Gath.

Publick Officer.

Messenger.

Chorus of Danites

The Scene before the Prison in Gaza.

Sam: A little onward lend thy guiding hand

To these dark steps, a little further on;

For yonder bank hath choice of Sun or shade,

There I am wont to sit, when any chance

Relieves me from my task of servile toyl,

Daily in the common Prison else enjoyn'd me,

Where I a Prisoner chain'd, scarce freely draw

The air imprison'd also, close and damp,

Unwholsom draught: but here I feel amends,

The breath of Heav'n fresh-blowing, pure and sweet, 10

With day-spring born; here leave me to respire.

This day a solemn Feast the people hold

To Dagon thir Sea-Idol, and forbid

Laborious works, unwillingly this rest

Thir Superstition yields me; hence with leave

Retiring from the popular noise, I seek

This unfrequented place to find some ease,

Ease to the body some, none to the mind

From restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm

Of Hornets arm'd, no sooner found alone, 20

But rush upon me thronging, and present

Times past, what once I was, and what am now.

O wherefore was my birth from Heaven foretold

Twice by an Angel, who at last in sight

Of both my Parents all in flames ascended

From off the Altar, where an Off'ring burn'd,

As in a fiery column charioting

His Godlike presence, and from some great act

Or benefit reveal'd to Abraham's race?

Why was my breeding order'd and prescrib'd 30

As of a person separate to God,

Design'd for great exploits; if I must dye

Betray'd, Captiv'd, and both my Eyes put out,

Made of my Enemies the scorn and gaze;

To grind in Brazen Fetters under task

With this Heav'n-gifted strength? O glorious strength

Put to the labour of a Beast, debas't

Lower then bondslave! Promise was that I

Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver;

Ask for this great Deliverer now, and find him 40

Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with slaves,

Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke;

Yet stay, let me not rashly call in doubt

Divine Prediction; what if all foretold

Had been fulfilld but through mine own default,

Whom have I to complain of but my self?

Who this high gift of strength committed to me,

In what part lodg'd, how easily bereft me,

Under the Seal of silence could not keep,

But weakly to a woman must reveal it 50

O'recome with importunity and tears.

O impotence of mind, in body strong!

But what is strength without a double share

Of wisdom, vast, unwieldy, burdensom,

Proudly secure, yet liable to fall

By weakest suttleties, not made to rule,

But to subserve where wisdom bears command.

God, when he gave me strength, to shew withal

How slight the gift was, hung it in my Hair.

But peace, I must not quarrel with the will 60

Of highest dispensation, which herein

Happ'ly had ends above my reach to know:

Suffices that to me strength is my bane,

And proves the sourse of all my miseries;

So many, and so huge, that each apart

Would ask a life to wail, but chief of all,

O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!

Blind among enemies, O worse then chains,

Dungeon, or beggery, or decrepit age!

Light the prime work of God to me is extinct,

And all her various objects of delight

Annull'd, which might in part my grief have eas'd,

Inferiour to the vilest now become

Of man or worm; the vilest here excel me,

They creep, yet see, I dark in light expos'd

To daily fraud, contempt, abuse and wrong,

Within doors, or without, still as a fool,

In power of others, never in my own;

Scarce half I seem to live, dead more then half.

O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, 80

Irrecoverably dark, total Eclipse

Without all hope of day!

O first created Beam, and thou great Word,

Let there be light, and light was over all;

Why am I thus bereav'd thy prime decree?

The Sun to me is dark

And silent as the Moon,

When she deserts the night

Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.

Since light so necessary is to life, 90

And almost life itself, if it be true

That light is in the Soul,

She all in every part; why was the sight

To such a tender ball as th' eye confin'd?

So obvious and so easie to be quench't,

And not as feeling through all parts diffus'd,

That she might look at will through every pore?

Then had I not been thus exil'd from light;

As in the land of darkness yet in light,

To live a life half dead, a living death, 100

And buried; but O yet more miserable!

My self, my Sepulcher, a moving Grave,

Buried, yet not exempt

By priviledge of death and burial

From worst of other evils, pains and wrongs,

But made hereby obnoxious more

To all the miseries of life,

Life in captivity

Among inhuman foes.

But who are these? for with joint pace I hear 110

The tread of many feet stearing this way;

Perhaps my enemies who come to stare

At my affliction, and perhaps to insult,

Thir daily practice to afflict me more.

Chor: This, this is he; softly a while,

Let us not break in upon him;

O change beyond report, thought, or belief!

See how he lies at random, carelessly diffus'd,

With languish't head unpropt,

As one past hope, abandon'd 120

And by himself given over;

In slavish habit, ill-fitted weeds

O're worn and soild;

Or do my eyes misrepresent? Can this be hee,

That Heroic, that Renown'd,

Irresistible Samson? whom unarm'd

No strength of man, or fiercest wild beast could withstand;

Who tore the Lion, as the Lion tears the Kid,

Ran on embattelld Armies clad in Iron,

And weaponless himself, 130

Made Arms ridiculous, useless the forgery

Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd Cuirass,

Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail

Adamantean Proof;

But safest he who stood aloof,

When insupportably his foot advanc't,

In scorn of thir proud arms and warlike tools,

Spurn'd them to death by Troops. The bold Ascalonite

Fled from his Lion ramp, old Warriors turn'd

Thir plated backs under his heel; 140

Or grovling soild thir crested helmets in the dust.

Then with what trivial weapon came to Hand,

The Jaw of a dead Ass, his sword of bone,

A thousand fore-skins fell, the flower of Palestin

In Ramath-lechi famous to this day:

Then by main force pull'd up, and on his shoulders bore

The Gates of Azza, Post, and massie Bar

Up to the Hill by Hebron, seat of Giants old,

No journey of a Sabbath day, and loaded so;

Like whom the Gentiles feign to bear up Heav'n. 150

Which shall I first bewail,

Thy Bondage or lost Sight,

Prison within Prison

Inseparably dark?

Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!)

The Dungeon of thy self; thy Soul

(Which Men enjoying sight oft without cause complain)

Imprison'd now indeed,

In real darkness of the body dwells,

Shut up from outward light 160

To incorporate with gloomy night;

For inward light alas

Puts forth no visual beam.

O mirror of our fickle state,

Since man on earth unparallel'd!

The rarer thy example stands,

By how much from the top of wondrous glory,

Strongest of mortal men,

To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n.

For him I reckon not in high estate 170

Whom long descent of birth

Or the sphear of fortune raises;

But thee whose strength, while vertue was her mate

Might have subdu'd the Earth,

Universally crown'd with highest praises.

Sam: I hear the sound of words, thir sense the air

Dissolves unjointed e're it reach my ear.

Chor: Hee speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless in might,

The glory late of Israel, now the grief;

We come thy friends and neighbours not unknown 180

From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful Vale

To visit or bewail thee, or if better,

Counsel or Consolation we may bring,

Salve to thy Sores, apt words have power to swage

The tumors of a troubl'd mind,

And are as Balm to fester'd wounds.

Sam: Your coming, Friends, revives me, for I learn

Now of my own experience, not by talk,

How counterfeit a coin they are who friends

Bear in their Superscription (of the most 190

I would be understood) in prosperous days

They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head

Not to be found, though sought. Wee see, O friends.

How many evils have enclos'd me round;

Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,

Blindness, for had I sight, confus'd with shame,

How could I once look up, or heave the head,

Who like a foolish Pilot have shipwrack't,

My Vessel trusted to me from above,

Gloriously rigg'd; and for a word, a tear, 200

Fool, have divulg'd the secret gift of God

To a deceitful Woman: tell me Friends,

Am I not sung and proverbd for a Fool

In every street, do they not say, how well

Are come upon him his deserts? yet why?

Immeasurable strength they might behold

In me, of wisdom nothing more then mean;

This with the other should, at least, have paird,

These two proportiond ill drove me transverse.

Chor: Tax not divine disposal, wisest Men 210

Have err'd, and by bad Women been deceiv'd;

And shall again, pretend they ne're so wise.

Deject not then so overmuch thy self,

Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides;

Yet truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder

Why thou shouldst wed Philistian women rather

Then of thine own Tribe fairer, or as fair,

At least of thy own Nation, and as noble.

Sam: The first I saw at Timna, and she pleas'd

Mee, not my Parents, that I sought to wed, 220

The daughter of an Infidel: they knew not

That what I motion'd was of God; I knew

From intimate impulse, and therefore urg'd

The Marriage on; that by occasion hence

I might begin Israel's Deliverance,

The work to which I was divinely call'd;

She proving false, the next I took to Wife

(O that I never had! fond wish too late)

Was in the Vale of Sorec, Dalila,

That specious Monster, my accomplisht snare. 230

I thought it lawful from my former act,

And the same end; still watching to oppress

Israel's oppressours: of what now I suffer

She was not the prime cause, but I my self,

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

Gave up my fort of silence to a Woman.

Chor: In seeking just occasion to provoke

The Philistine, thy Countries Enemy,

Thou never wast remiss, I hear thee witness:

Yet Israel still serves with all his Sons. 240

Sam: That fault I take not on me, but transfer

On Israel's Governours, and Heads of Tribes,

Who seeing those great acts which God had done

Singly by me against their Conquerours

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

Deliverance offerd: I on th' other side

Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds,

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

But they persisted deaf, and would not seem

To count them things worth notice, till at length 250

Thir Lords the Philistines with gather'd powers

Enterd Judea seeking mee, who then

Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd,

Not flying, but fore-casting in what place

To set upon them, what advantag'd best;

Mean while the men of Judah to prevent

The harrass of thir Land, beset me round;

I willingly on some conditions came

Into thir hands, and they as gladly yield me

To the uncircumcis'd a welcom prey, 260

Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threds

Toucht with the flame: on thir whole Host I flew

Unarm'd, and with a trivial weapon fell'd

Thir choicest youth; they only liv'd who fled.

Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole Tribe,

They had by this possess'd the Towers of Gath,

And lorded over them whom now they serve;

But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt,

And by thir vices brought to servitude,

Then to love Bondage more then Liberty, 270

Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty;

And to despise, or envy, or suspect

Whom God hath of his special favour rais'd

As thir Deliverer; if he aught begin,

How frequent to desert him, and at last

To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?

Chor: Thy words to my remembrance bring

How Succoth and the Fort of Penuel

Thir great Deliverer contemn'd,

The matchless Gideon in pursuit 280

Of Madian and her vanquisht Kings;

And how ingrateful Ephraim

Not worse then by his shield and spear

Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument,

Defended Israel from the Ammonite,

Had not his prowess quell'd thir pride

In that sore battel when so many dy'd

Without Reprieve adjudg'd to death,

For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.

Sam: Of such examples adde mee to the roul, 290

Mee easily indeed mine may neglect,

But Gods propos'd deliverance not so.

Chor: Just are the ways of God,

And justifiable to Men;

Unless there be who think not God at all,

If any be, they walk obscure;

For of such Doctrine never was there School,

But the heart of the Fool,

And no man therein Doctor but himself.

Yet more there be who doubt his ways not just, 300

As to his own edicts, found contradicting,

Then give the rains to wandring thought,

Regardless of his glories diminution;

Till by thir own perplexities involv'd

They ravel more, still less resolv'd,

But never find self-satisfying solution.

As if they would confine th' interminable,

And tie him to his own prescript,

Who made our Laws to bind us, not himself,

And hath full right to exempt 310

Whom so it pleases him by choice

From National obstriction, without taint

Of sin, or legal debt;

For with his own Laws he can best dispence.

He would not else who never wanted means,

Nor in respect of the enemy just cause

To set his people free,

Have prompted this Heroic Nazarite,

Against his vow of strictest purity,

To seek in marriage that fallacious Bride, 320

Unclean, unchaste.

Down Reason then, at least vain reasonings down,

Though Reason here aver

That moral verdit quits her of unclean:

Unchaste was subsequent, her stain not his.

But see here comes thy reverend Sire

With careful step, Locks white as doune,

Old Manoah: advise

Forthwith how thou oughtst to receive him.

Sam: Ay me, another inward grief awak't, 330

With mention of that name renews th' assault.

Man: Brethren and men of Dan, for such ye seem,

Though in this uncouth place; if old respect,

As I suppose, towards your once gloried friend,

My Son now Captive, hither hath inform'd

Your younger feet, while mine cast back with age

Came lagging after; say if he be here.

Chor: As signal now in low dejected state,

As earst in highest; behold him where he lies.

Man: O miserable change! is this the man, 340

That invincible Samson, far renown'd,

The dread of Israel's foes, who with a strength

Equivalent to Angels walk'd thir streets,

None offering fight; who single combatant

Duell'd thir Armies rank't in proud array,

Himself an Army, now unequal match

To save himself against a coward arm'd

At one spears length. O ever failing trust

In mortal strength! and oh what not in man

Deceivable and vain! Nay what thing good 350

Pray'd for, but often proves our woe, our bane?

I pray'd for Children, and thought barrenness

In wedlock a reproach; I gain'd a Son,

And such a Son as all Men hail'd me happy;

Who would be now a Father in my stead?

O wherefore did God grant me my request,

And as a blessing with such pomp adorn'd?

Why are his gifts desirable, to tempt

Our earnest Prayers, then giv'n with solemn hand

As Graces, draw a Scorpions tail behind? 360

For this did the Angel twice descend? for this

Ordain'd thy nurture holy, as of a Plant;

Select, and Sacred, Glorious for a while,

The miracle of men: then in an hour

Ensnar'd, assaulted, overcome, led bound,

Thy Foes derision, Captive, Poor, and Blind

Into a Dungeon thrust, to work with Slaves?

Alas methinks whom God hath chosen once

To worthiest deeds, if he through frailty err,

He should not so o'rewhelm, and as a thrall 370

Subject him to so foul indignities,

Be it but for honours sake of former deeds.

Sam: Appoint not heavenly disposition, Father,

Nothing of all these evils hath befall'n me

But justly; I my self have brought them on,

Sole Author I, sole cause: if aught seem vile,

As vile hath been my folly, who have profan'd

The mystery of God giv'n me under pledge

Of vow, and have betray'd it to a woman,

A Canaanite, my faithless enemy. 380

This well I knew, nor was at all surpris'd,

But warn'd by oft experience: did not she

Of Timna first betray me, and reveal

The secret wrested from me in her highth

Of Nuptial Love profest, carrying it strait

To them who had corrupted her, my Spies,

And Rivals? In this other was there found

More Faith? who also in her prime of love,

Spousal embraces, vitiated with Gold,

Though offer'd only, by the sent conceiv'd 390

Her spurious first-born; Treason against me?

Thrice she assay'd with flattering prayers and sighs,

And amorous reproaches to win from me

My capital secret, in what part my strength

Lay stor'd in what part summ'd, that she might know:

Thrice I deluded her, and turn'd to sport

Her importunity, each time perceiving

How openly, and with what impudence

She purpos'd to betray me, and (which was worse

Then undissembl'd hate) with what contempt 400

She sought to make me Traytor to my self;

Yet the fourth time, when mustring all her wiles,

With blandisht parlies, feminine assaults,

Tongue-batteries, she surceas'd not day nor night

To storm me over-watch't, and wearied out.

At times when men seek most repose and rest,

I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart,

Who with a grain of manhood well resolv'd

Might easily have shook off all her snares:

But foul effeminacy held me yok't 410

Her Bond-slave; O indignity, O blot

To Honour and Religion! servil mind

Rewarded well with servil punishment!

The base degree to which I now am fall'n,

These rags, this grinding, is not yet so base

As was my former servitude, ignoble,

Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,

True slavery, and that blindness worse then this,

That saw not how degeneratly I serv'd.

Man: I cannot praise thy Marriage choises, Son, 420

Rather approv'd them not; but thou didst plead

Divine impulsion prompting how thou might'st

Find some occasion to infest our Foes.

I state not that; this I am sure; our Foes

Found soon occasion thereby to make thee

Thir Captive, and thir triumph; thou the sooner

Temptation found'st, or over-potent charms

To violate the sacred trust of silence

Deposited within thee; which to have kept

Tacit, was in thy power; true; and thou hear'st 430

Enough, and more the burden of that fault;

Bitterly hast thou paid, and still art paying

That rigid score. A worse thing yet remains,

This day the Philistines a popular Feast

Here celebrate in Gaza, and proclaim

Great Pomp, and Sacrifice, and Praises loud

To Dagon, as their God who hath deliver'd

Thee Samson bound and blind into thir hands,

Them out of thine, who slew'st them many a slain.

So Dagon shall be magnifi'd, and God, 440

Besides whom is no God, compar'd with Idols,

Disglorifi'd, blasphem'd, and had in scorn

By th' Idolatrous rout amidst thir wine;

Which to have come to pass by means of thee,

Samson, of all thy sufferings think the heaviest,

Of all reproach the most with shame that ever

Could have befall'n thee and thy Fathers house.

Sam: Father, I do acknowledge and confess

That I this honour, I this pomp have brought

To Dagon, and advanc'd his praises high 450

Among the Heathen round; to God have brought

Dishonour, obloquie, and op't the mouths

Of Idolists, and Atheists; have brought scandal

To Israel diffidence of God, and doubt

In feeble hearts, propense anough before

To waver, or fall off and joyn with Idols:

Which is my chief affliction, shame and sorrow,

The anguish of my Soul, that suffers not

Mine eie to harbour sleep, or thoughts to rest.

This only hope relieves me, that the strife 460

With me hath end; all the contest is now

'Twixt God and Dagon; Dagon hath presum'd,

Me overthrown, to enter lists with God,

His Deity comparing and preferring

Before the God of Abraham. He, be sure,

Will not connive, or linger, thus provok'd,

But will arise and his great name assert:

Dagon must stoop, and shall e're long receive

Such a discomfit, as shall quite despoil him

Of all these boasted Trophies won on me, 470

And with confusion blank his Worshippers.

Man: With cause this hope relieves thee, and these words

I as a Prophecy receive: for God,

Nothing more certain, will not long defer

To vindicate the glory of his name

Against all competition, nor will long

Endure it, doubtful whether God be Lord,

Or Dagon. But for thee what shall be done?

Thou must not in the mean while here forgot

Lie in this miserable loathsom plight 480

Neglected. I already have made way

To some Philistian Lords, with whom to treat

About thy ransom: well they may by this

Have satisfi'd thir utmost of revenge

By pains and slaveries, worse then death inflicted

On thee, who now no more canst do them harm.

Sam: Spare that proposal, Father, spare the trouble

Of that sollicitation; let me here,

As I deserve, pay on my punishment;

And expiate, if possible, my crime, 490

Shameful garrulity. To have reveal'd

Secrets of men, the secrets of a friend,

How hainous had the fact been, how deserving

Contempt, and scorn of all, to be excluded

All friendship, and avoided as a blab,

The mark of fool set on his front?

But I Gods counsel have not kept, his holy secret

Presumptuously have publish'd, impiously,

Weakly at least, and shamefully: A sin

That Gentiles in thir Parables condemn 500

To thir abyss and horrid pains confin'd.

Man: Be penitent and for thy fault contrite,

But act not in thy own affliction, Son,

Repent the sin, but if the punishment

Thou canst avoid, selfpreservation bids;

Or th' execution leave to high disposal,

And let another hand, not thine, exact

Thy penal forfeit from thy self; perhaps

God will relent, and quit thee all his debt;

Who evermore approves and more accepts 510

(Best pleas'd with humble and filial submission)

Him who imploring mercy sues for life,

Then who selfrigorous chooses death as due;

Which argues overjust, and self-displeas'd

For self-offence, more then for God offended.

Reject not then what offerd means, who knows

But God hath set before us, to return thee

Home to thy countrey and his sacred house,

Where thou mayst bring thy off'rings, to avert

His further ire, with praiers and vows renew'd. 520

Sam: His pardon I implore; but as for life,

To what end should I seek it? when in strength

All mortals I excell'd, and great in hopes

With youthful courage and magnanimous thoughts

Of birth from Heav'n foretold and high exploits,

Full of divine instinct, after some proof

Of acts indeed heroic, far beyond

The Sons of Anac, famous now and blaz'd,

Fearless of danger, like a petty God

I walk'd about admir'd of all and dreaded 530

On hostile ground, none daring my affront.

Then swoll'n with pride into the snare I fell

Of fair fallacious looks, venereal trains,

Softn'd with pleasure and voluptuous life;

At length to lay my head and hallow'd pledge

Of all my strength in the lascivious lap

Of a deceitful Concubine who shore me

Like a tame Weather, all my precious fleece,

Then turn'd me out ridiculous, despoil'd,

Shav'n, and disarm'd among my enemies. 540

Chor. Desire of wine and all delicious drinks,

Which many a famous Warriour overturns,

Thou couldst repress, nor did the dancing Rubie

Sparkling; out-pow'rd, the flavor, or the smell,

Or taste that cheers the heart of Gods and men,

Allure thee from the cool Crystalline stream.

Sam. Where ever fountain or fresh current flow'd

Against the Eastern ray, translucent, pure,

With touch aetherial of Heav'ns fiery rod

I drank, from the clear milkie juice allaying 550

Thirst, and refresht; nor envy'd them the grape

Whose heads that turbulent liquor fills with fumes.

Chor. O madness, to think use of strongest wines

And strongest drinks our chief support of health,

When God with these forbid'n made choice to rear

His mighty Champion, strong above compare,

Whose drink was only from the liquid brook.

Sam. But what avail'd this temperance, not compleat

Against another object more enticing?

What boots it at one gate to make defence, 560

And at another to let in the foe

Effeminatly vanquish't? by which means,

Now blind, disheartn'd, sham'd, dishonour'd, quell'd,

To what can I be useful, wherein serve

My Nation, and the work from Heav'n impos'd,

But to sit idle on the houshold hearth,

A burdenous drone; to visitants a gaze,

Or pitied object, these redundant locks

Robustious to no purpose clustring down,

Vain monument of strength; till length of years 570

And sedentary numness craze my limbs

To a contemptible old age obscure.

Here rather let me drudge and earn my bread,

Till vermin or the draff of servil food

Consume me, and oft-invocated death

Hast'n the welcom end of all my pains.

Man. Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift

Which was expresly giv'n thee to annoy them?

Better at home lie bed-rid, not only idle,

Inglorious, unimploy'd, with age out-worn. 580

But God who caus'd a fountain at thy prayer

From the dry ground to spring, thy thirst to allay

After the brunt of battel, can as easie

Cause light again within thy eies to spring,

Wherewith to serve him better then thou hast;

And I perswade me so; why else this strength

Miraculous yet remaining in those locks?

His might continues in thee not for naught,

Nor shall his wondrous gifts be frustrate thus.

Sam: All otherwise to me my thoughts portend, 590

That these dark orbs no more shall treat with light,

Nor th' other light of life continue long,

But yield to double darkness nigh at hand:

So much I feel my genial spirits droop,

My hopes all flat, nature within me seems

In all her functions weary of herself;

My race of glory run, and race of shame,

And I shall shortly be with them that rest.

Man. Believe not these suggestions which proceed

From anguish of the mind and humours black, 600

That mingle with thy fancy. I however

Must not omit a Fathers timely care

To prosecute the means of thy deliverance

By ransom or how else: mean while be calm,

And healing words from these thy friends admit.

Sam. O that torment should not be confin'd

To the bodies wounds and sores

With maladies innumerable

In heart, head, brest, and reins;

But must secret passage find 610

To th' inmost mind,

There exercise all his fierce accidents,

And on her purest spirits prey,

As on entrails, joints, and limbs,

With answerable pains, but more intense,

'Though void of corporal sense.

My griefs not only pain me

As a lingring disease,

But finding no redress, ferment and rage,

Nor less then wounds immedicable 620

Ranckle, and fester, and gangrene,

To black mortification.

Thoughts my Tormenters arm'd with deadly stings

Mangle my apprehensive tenderest parts,

Exasperate, exulcerate, and raise

Dire inflammation which no cooling herb

Or medcinal liquor can asswage,

Nor breath of Vernal Air from snowy Alp.

Sleep hath forsook and giv'n me o're

To deaths benumming Opium as my only cure. 630

Thence faintings, swounings of despair,

And sense of Heav'ns desertion.

I was his nursling once and choice delight,

His destin'd from the womb,

Promisd by Heavenly message twice descending.

Under his special eie

Abstemious I grew up and thriv'd amain;

He led me on to mightiest deeds

Above the nerve of mortal arm

Against the uncircumcis'd, our enemies. 640

But now hath cast me off as never known,

And to those cruel enemies,

Whom I by his appointment had provok't,

Left me all helpless with th' irreparable loss

Of sight, reserv'd alive to be repeated

The subject of thir cruelty, or scorn.

Nor am I in the list of them that hope;

Hopeless are all my evils, all remediless;

This one prayer yet remains, might I be heard,

No long petition, speedy death, 650

The close of all my miseries, and the balm.

Chor: Many are the sayings of the wise

In antient and in modern books enroll'd;

Extolling Patience as the truest fortitude;

And to the bearing well of all calamities,

All chances incident to mans frail life

Consolatories writ

With studied argument, and much perswasion sought

Lenient of grief and anxious thought,

But with th' afflicted in his pangs thir sound 680

Little prevails, or rather seems a tune,

Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint,

Unless he feel within

Some sourse of consolation from above;

Secret refreshings, that repair his strength,

And fainting spirits uphold.

God of our Fathers, what is man!

That thou towards him with hand so various,

Or might I say contrarious,

Temperst thy providence through his short course, 670

Not evenly, as thou rul'st

The Angelic orders and inferiour creatures mute,

Irrational and brute.

Nor do I name of men the common rout,

That wandring loose about

Grow up and perish, as the summer flie,

Heads without name no more rememberd,

But such as thou hast solemnly elected,

With gifts and graces eminently adorn'd

To some great work, thy glory, 680

And peoples safety, which in part they effect:

Yet toward these thus dignifi'd, thou oft

Amidst thir highth of noon,

Changest thy countenance, and thy hand with no regard

Of highest favours past

From thee on them, or them to thee of service.

Nor only dost degrade them, or remit

To life obscur'd, which were a fair dismission,

But throw'st them lower then thou didst exalt them high,

Unseemly falls in human eie, 690

Too grievous for the trespass or omission,

Oft leav'st them to the hostile sword

Of Heathen and prophane, thir carkasses

To dogs and fowls a prey, or else captiv'd:

Or to the unjust tribunals, under change of times,

And condemnation of the ingrateful multitude.

If these they scape, perhaps in poverty

With sickness and disease thou bow'st them down,

Painful diseases and deform'd, 700

In crude old age;

Though not disordinate, yet causless suffring

The punishment of dissolute days, in fine,

Just or unjust, alike seem miserable,

For oft alike, both come to evil end.

So deal not with this once thy glorious Champion,

The Image of thy strength, and mighty minister.

What do I beg? how hast thou dealt already?

Behold him in this state calamitous, and turn

His labours, for thou canst, to peaceful end.

But who is this, what thing of Sea or Land? 710

Femal of sex it seems,

That so bedeckt, ornate, and gay,

Comes this way sailing

Like a stately Ship

Of Tarsus, bound for th' Isles

Of Javan or Gadier

With all her bravery on, and tackle trim,

Sails fill'd, and streamers waving,

Courted by all the winds that hold them play,

An Amber sent of odorous perfume 720

Her harbinger, a damsel train behind;

Some rich Philistian Matron she may seem,

And now at nearer view, no other certain

Than Dalila thy wife.

Sam: My Wife, my Traytress, let her not come near me.

Cho: Yet on she moves, now stands & eies thee fixt,

About t'have spoke, but now, with head declin'd

Like a fair flower surcharg'd with dew, she weeps

And words addrest seem into tears dissolv'd,

Wetting the borders of her silk'n veil: 730

But now again she makes address to speak.

Dal: With doubtful feet and wavering resolution

I came, still dreading thy displeasure, Samson,

Which to have merited, without excuse,

I cannot but acknowledge; yet if tears

May expiate (though the fact more evil drew

In the perverse event then I foresaw)

My penance hath not slack'n'd, though my pardon

No way assur'd. But conjugal affection

Prevailing over fear, and timerous doubt 740

Hath led me on desirous to behold

Once more thy face, and know of thy estate.

If aught in my ability may serve

To light'n what thou suffer'st, and appease

Thy mind with what amends is in my power,

Though late, yet in some part to recompense

My rash but more unfortunate misdeed.

Sam: Out, out Hyaena; these are thy wonted arts,

And arts of every woman false like thee,

To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray, 750

Then as repentant to submit, beseech,

And reconcilement move with feign'd remorse,

Confess, and promise wonders in her change,

Not truly penitent, but chief to try

Her husband, how far urg'd his patience bears,

His vertue or weakness which way to assail:

Then with more cautious and instructed skill

Again transgresses, and again submits;

That wisest and best men full oft beguil'd

With goodness principl'd not to reject 760

The penitent, but ever to forgive,

Are drawn to wear out miserable days,

Entangl'd with a poysnous 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 th' other side if it be weigh'd

By it self, with aggravations not surcharg'd,

Or else with just allowance counterpois'd 770

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? 780

To what I did thou shewdst me first the way.

But I to enemies reveal'd, and should not.

Nor shouldst thou have trusted that to womans frailty

E're I to thee, thou to thy self wast cruel.

Let weakness then with weakness come to parl

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, then in thy self was found.

And what if Love, which thou interpret'st hate, 790

The jealousie of Love, powerful of sway

In human hearts, nor less in mine towards thee,

Caus'd what I did? I saw thee mutable

Of fancy, feard lest one day thou wouldst leave me

As her at Timna, sought by all means therefore

How to endear, and hold thee to me firmest:

No better way I saw then by importuning

To learn thy secrets, get into my power

Thy key of strength and safety: thou wilt say,

Why then reveal'd? I was assur'd by those 800

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 sate full of cares and fears

Wailing thy absence in my widow'd bed;

Here I should still enjoy thee day and night

Mine and Loves prisoner, not the Philistines,

Whole to my self, unhazarded abroad,

Fearless at home of partners in my love. 810

These reasons in Loves law have past for good,

Though fond and reasonless to some perhaps:

And Love hath oft, well meaning, wrought much wo,

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.

Sam: How cunningly the sorceress displays

Her own transgressions, to upbraid me mine! 820

That malice not repentance brought thee hither,

By this appears: I gave, thou say'st, th' example,

I led the way; bitter reproach, but true,

I to my self was false e're 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 830

Philistian gold: if weakness may excuse,

What Murtherer, what Traytor, 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 satisfie thy lust: Love seeks to have Love;

My love how couldst thou hope, who tookst 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 uncoverst more.

Dal: Since thou determinst weakness for no plea

In man or woman, though to thy own condemning,

Hear what assaults I had, what snares besides,

What sieges girt me round, e're I consented;

Which might have aw'd the best resolv'd 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 countrey came in person,

Sollicited, commanded, threatn'd, urg'd,

Adjur'd by all the bonds of civil Duty

And of Religion, press'd how just it was,

How honourable, how glorious to entrap

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 860

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 contest: at length that grounded maxim

So rife and celebrated in the mouths

Of wisest men; that to the public good

Private respects must yield; with grave authority'

Took full possession of me and prevail'd;

Vertue, as I thought, truth, duty so enjoyning. 870

Sam: I thought where all thy circling wiles would end;

In feign'd Religion, smooth hypocrisie.

But had thy love, still odiously pretended,

Bin, as it ought, sincere, it would have taught thee

Far other reasonings, brought forth other deeds.

I before all the daughters of my Tribe

And of my Nation chose thee from among

My enemies, lov'd thee, as too well thou knew'st,

Too well, unbosom'd all my secrets to thee,

Not out of levity, but over-powr'd 880

By thy request, who could deny thee nothing;

Yet now am judg'd an enemy. Why then

Didst thou at first receive me for thy husband?

Then, as since then, thy countries foe profest:

Being once a wife, for me thou wast to leave

Parents and countrey; nor was I their subject,

Nor under their protection but my own,

Thou mine, not theirs: if aught against my life

Thy countrey sought of thee, it sought unjustly,

Against the law of nature, law of nations, 890

No more thy countrey, but an impious crew

Of men conspiring to uphold thir state

By worse than hostile deeds, violating the ends

For which our countrey is a name so dear;

Not therefore to be obey'd. 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, 900

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 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 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 920

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.

Sam: 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 930

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; 940

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. 950

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 960

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. 970

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, 980

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. 990

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 1000

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.

Chor: It is not vertue, wisdom, valour, wit, 1010

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, 1020

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? 1030

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 1040

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, 1050

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. 1060

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 1070

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 1080

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. 1090

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 hear'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.

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 1110

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. 1120

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 1130

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 1140

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 1150

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 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 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 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

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. 1180

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

Har: Is not thy Nation subject to our Lords?

Thir 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, 1190

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. 1200

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. 1210

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 1220

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. 1230

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.

Sam: 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 1240

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 crestfall'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, 1250

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 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 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 1270

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, 1270

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 1290

That tyrannie 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. 1300

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; 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;

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 1320

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, 1330

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, 1340

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.

Sam: Perhaps thou shalt have cause to sorrow indeed.

Chor: Consider, Samson; matters now are strain'd

Up to the highth, whether to bold 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 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? 1360

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, 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 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. 1380

Sam: Be of good courage, I begin to feel

Some rouzing 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

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. 1390

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. 1400

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: 1410

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: 1420

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: 1430

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. 1440

But wherefore comes old Manoa in such hast

With youthful steps? much livelier than 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, 1450

Lest I should see him forc't 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.

Chor: 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, 1460

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, 1470

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 numberd down: much rather I shall chuse

To live the poorest in my Tribe, then richest,

And he in that calamitous prison left. 1480

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, 1490

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 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.

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. 1510

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? 1520

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? 1530

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. 1540

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, 1550

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 1560

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. 1570

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, 1580

What glorious band 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! 1590

A dreadful way thou took'st to thy revenge.

More than 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 1600

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; 1610

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 1620

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 1630

(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 1640

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 1650

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! 1660

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, 1670

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 1680

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 1690

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, 1700

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 1710

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. 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

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 1730

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: 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.

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 1750

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.

APPENDIX.

Specimen of Milton's spelling, from the Cambridge autograph

manuscript.

ON TIME

(Set on a clock case)

Fly envious Time till thou run out thy race

call on the lazie leaden-stepping howres

whose speed is but the heavie plummets pace

& glut thy selfe wth what thy womb devoures

Wch is no more then what is false & vaine

& meerly mortall drosse

so little is our losse

so little is thy gaine

for when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd

& last of all thy greedie selfe consum'd 10

then long Aeternity shall greet our blisse

wth an individuall kisse

and Joy shall overtake us as a flood

when every thing yt is sincerely good

& pfectly divine

with Truth, & Peace, & Love shall ever shine

about the supreme throne

of him t' whose happy-making sight alone

when once our heav'nly-guided soule shall clime

then all this earthie grossnesse quit 20

attir'd wth starres wee shall for ever sit

Triumphing over Death, & Chance, & thee O Time.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Poetical Works of John Milton, by John Milton