Imprison'd now indeed, In real darkness of the body dwells, T' incorporate with gloomy night; Puts forth no visual beam. O mirror of onr fickle state, The rarer thy example stands, By how much from the top of wondrous glory, To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n. For him I reckon not in high estate Whom long descent of birth Or the sphere of fortune raises : But thee whose strength, while virtue was her mate, Might have subdued the earth, Universally crown'd with highest praises. SAMSON. I hear the sound of words, their sense the air Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear. 160 165 170 175 162. For inward light alas Puts forth no visual beam.] The expression is fine, and means the ray of light, which occasions vision. Mr. Pope borrowed the expression in one of his juvenile poems, He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, and supposed Milton meant by visual ray the sight, or at least thought himself at liberty to use it in that highly figurative sense. See what is said on the passage in the last edition of Mr. Pope's works. Warburton. 172. Or the sphere of fortune raises;] Fortune is painted on And on the sightless eye-ball pour a globe, which by her influence the day. is in a perpetual rotation on its Either he mistook his original, axis. Warburton. CHORUS. He 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 pow'r to swage And are as balm to fester'd wounds. SAMSON. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I learn 178. He speaks,] We have followed Milton's own edition; most of the others have it He spake. 181. From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale] These were two towns of the tribe of Dan, Josh. xix. 41. the latter the birth-place of Samson, Judges xiii. 2. and they were near one another. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol, Judges xiii. 25. And they were both situated in the valley, Josh. xv. 33. and therefore the poet with great exactness says Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale. 182. To visit or bewail thee,] The poet dictated To visit and bewail thee: The purpose of their visit was to bewail him; or if betler, (that is if they found it more proper,) to advise or comfort him. Veniebat 185 autem ad Eumenem utrumque genus hominum, et qui propter odium fructum oculis ex ejus casu capere vellent, [see above, ver. 112. to stare at my affliction,] et qui propter veterem amicitiam colloqui consolarique cuperent. Corn. Nepos in vita Eumenis. Calton. 184. apt words have pow'r to swage &c.] Alluding to these lines in Eschylus. Prom. Vinct. 377. Ούκουν Προμηθευ τουτο γινώσκεις, ότι Or to this passage in Menander. Λογος γαρ εστι λυπης φαρμακον μόνον. Or perhaps to Horace, epist. i. i. 34. Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis, et magnam morbi deponere partem. Bear in their superscription, (of the most I would be understood,). in prosp❜rous days 190 They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head, Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me, 195 every street? do they not say, how well Tax not divine disposal; wisest men 195. Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,] There is no inconsistence in this with what he had said before, ver. 66. -but chief of all, O loss of sight, of thee I most complain. When he was by himself, he considered his blindness as the worst of evils; but now, upon his friends coming in and seeing him in this wretched condition, it least afflicts me, says he, as 200 205 210 being some cover to his shame and confusion. 210. Tax not divine disposal; &c.] As this whole play, so particularly the part of the Chorus, is written in the very spirit of the ancients, and is formed exactly according to the precepts of Horace. De Arte Poet. 193. Actoris partes Chorus, officiumque virile Defendat; neu quid medios intercinat actus, Have err'd, and by bad women been deceiv'd; Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides; At least of thy own nation, and as noble. SAMSON. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleas'd Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed The daughter of an infidel: they knew not That what I motion'd was of God; I knew 215 220 Yet let their songs with apt coherence join, Promote the plot, and aid the main design. Francis. Such is the character and office of the Chorus, as prescribed by this great critic and poet, and it was never exemplified more fully than in the Chorus of Milton. 216.-Philistian women rather] So it is printed in Milton's own edition, and woman is a mistake of the other editions; for more than one are mentioned afterwards. The first I saw at Timna, &c. ver. 219. the next I took to wife, &c. ver. 227. 219. The first I saw at Timna,] Judg. xiv. 1. And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, &c. 222. That what I motion'd was of God;] It was printed mention'd, which is sense indeed, but Milton himself in the table of From intimate impulse, and therefore urg'd That specious monster, my accomplish'd snare. 225 230 Who vanquish'd with a peal of words (O weakness!) Gave up my fort of silence to a woman. CHORUS. 236 In seeking just occasion to provoke The Philistine, thy country's enemy, Thou never wast remiss, I bear thee witness: Yet Israël still serves with all his sons. 240 SAMSON. That fault I take not on me, but transfer On Israel's governors, and heads of tribes, errata substituted motion'd, which is better: but the first error hath still prevailed in all the editions. 229. Was in the vale of Sorec, Dalila,] Judg. xvi. 4. And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Dalilah, &c. 230.my accomplish'd snare,] There seems to be a quibble in the use of this epithet. Warburton. 241. That fault &c.] Milton certainly intended to reproach his countrymen indirectly, and as plainly as he dared, with the restoration of Charles II. which he accounted the restoration of slavery, and with the execution of the regicides. He pursues the same subject again, 678 to 700. I wonder how the licensers of those days let it pass. Jortin. |