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,
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 down, Old Manoa: advise
Forthwith how thou ought'st to receive him.
Sams. Ay me! another inward grief, awaked
With mention of that name, renews the 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 informed
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 erst in highest, behold him where he lies. Man. O miserable change!
That invincible Samson, far renowned, The dread of Israel's foes, who with a strength Equivalent to Angels' walked their streets, None offering fight; who, single combatant, Duelled their armies ranked in proud array, Himself an army-now unequal match To save himself against a coward armed At one spear's length? O ever-failing trust In mortal strength! and, oh, what not in man Deceivable and vain? Nay, what thing good Prayed for, but often proves our woe, our bane? I prayed for children, and thought barrenness In wedlock a reproach; I gained a son, And such a son as all men hailed me happy: Who would be now a father in my stead? Oh, wherefore did God grant me my request, And as a blessing with such pomp adorned? Why are his gifts desirable, to tempt
Our earnest prayers, then, given with solemn hand As graces, draw a scorpion's tail behind?
For this did the Angel twice descend? for this Ordained thy nurture holy, as of a plant
Select and sacred? glorious for a while, The miracle of men; then in an hour Ensnared, 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'erwhelm, and as a thrall Subject him to so foul indignities,
Be it but for honour's sake of former deeds. Sams. Appoint not heavenly disposition, father. Nothing of all these evils hath befallen me But justly; I myself have brought them on; Sole author I, sole cause. If aught seem vile, As vile hath been my folly, who have profaned The mystery of God, given me under pledge Of vow, and have betrayed it to a woman, A Canaanite, my faithless enemy. This well I knew, nor was at all surprised, But warned by oft experience. Did not she Of Timna first betray me, and reveal The secret wrested from me in her highth Of nuptial love professed, carrying it straight 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 offered only, by the scent conceived,
Her spurious first-born, Treason against me?
Thrice she assayed, with flattering prayers and sighs,
And amorous reproaches, to win from me
My capital secret, in what part my strength
Lay stored, in what part summed, that she might know; Thrice I deluded her, and turned to sport
Her importunity, each time perceiving
How openly and with what impudence
She purposed to betray me, and (which was worse Than undissembled hate) with what contempt She sought to make me traitor to myself.
Yet, the fourth time, when, mustering all her wiles, With blandished parleys, feminine assaults, Tongue-batteries, she surceased not day nor night To storm me, over-watched and wearied out, At times when men seek most repose and rest, I yielded, and unlocked her all my heart, Who, with a grain of manhood well resolved, Might easily have shook off all her snares;
But foul effeminacy held me yoked Her bond-slave. O indignity, O blot To honour and religion! servile mind Rewarded well with servile punishment! The base degree to which I now am fallen, These rags, this grinding, is not yet so base As was my former servitude, ignoble, Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,
True slavery; and that blindness worse than this, That saw not how degenerately I served.
Man. I cannot praise thy marriage-choices, son- Rather approved 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
Their captive, and their 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 bear'st 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 delivered
Thee, Samson, bound and blind, into their hands
Them out of thine, who slew'st them many a slain. So Dagon shall be magnified, and God, Besides whom is no god, compared with idols, Disglorified, blasphemed, and had in scorn By the idolatrous rout amidst their 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 befallen thee and thy father's house. Sams. Father, I do acknowledge and confess That I this honour, I this pomp, have brought To Dagon, and advanced his praises high Among the Heathen round-to God have brought Dishonour, obloquy, and oped the mouths Of idolists and atheists; have brought scandal To Israel, diffidence of God, and doubt In feeble hearts, propense enough before To waver, or fall off and join with idols:
Which is my chief affliction, shame and sorrow, The anguish of my soul, that suffers not Mine eye to harbour sleep, or thoughts to rest. This only hope relieves me, that the strife With me hath end. All the contest is now 'Twixt God and Dagon. Dagon hath presumed, 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 provoked, But will arise, and his great name assert. Dagon must stoop, and shall ere long receive Such a discomfit as shall quite despoil him Of all these boasted trophies won on me, And with confusion blank his worshipers.
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 meanwhile, here forgot, Lie in this miserable loathsome plight Neglected. I already have made way To some Philistian lords, with whom to treat About thy ransom. Well they may by this Have satisfied their utmost of revenge,
By pains and slaveries, worse than death, inflicted
On thee, who now no more canst do them harm.
Sams. Spare that proposal, father; spare the trouble Of that solicitation. Let me here,
As I deserve, pay on my punishment, And expiate, if possible, my crime, Shameful garrulity. To have revealed
Secrets of men, the secrets of a friend,
How heinous 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 God's counsel have not kept, his holy secret Presumptuously have published, impiously, Weakly at least and shamefully—a sin
That Gentiles in their parables condemn
To their Abyss and horrid pains confined.
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, self-preservation bids; Or the execution leave to high disposal, And let another hand, not thine, exact Thy penal forfeit from thyself. Perhaps God will relent, and quit thee all his debt; Who ever more approves and more accepts (Best pleased with humble and filial submission) Him who, imploring mercy, sues for life, Than who, self-rigorous, chooses death as due; Which argues over-just, and self-displeased For self-offence more than for God offended. Reject not, then, what offered means who knows But God hath set before us to return thee Home to thy country and his sacred house, Where thou may'st bring thy offerings, to avert His further ire, with prayers and vows renewed.
Sams. His pardon I implore; but, as for life, To what end should I seek it? When in strength All mortals I excelled, and great in hopes, With youthful courage, and magnanimous thoughts Of birth from Heaven foretold and high exploits, Full of divine instinct, after some proof
Of acts indeed heroic, far beyond
The sons of Anak, famous now and blazed, Fearless of danger, like a petty god
I walked about, admired of all, and dreaded On hostile ground, none daring my affront- Then, swollen with pride, into the snare I fell Of fair fallacious looks, venereal trains, Softened with pleasure and voluptuous life, At length to lay my head and hallowed pledge Of all my strength in the lascivious lap Of a deceitful concubine, who shore me, Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece, Then turned me out ridiculous, despoiled, Shaven, and disarmed among my enemies.
Chor. Desire of wine and all delicious drinks, Which many a famous warrior overturns, Thou could'st repress; nor did the dancing ruby, Sparkling out-poured, the flavour or the smell, Or taste, that cheers the heart of gods and men, Allure thee from the cool crystalline stream.
Sams. Wherever fountain or fresh current flowed Against the eastern ray, translucent, pure With touch ethereal of Heaven's fiery rod,
I drank, from the clear milky juice allaying
« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó » |