Among the heathen round; to God have brought
Dishonour, obloquy, and op'd 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

455

Mine eye to harbour sleep, or thoughts to rest.
This only hope relieves me, that the strife
With me hath end; all the contést is now
'Twixt God and Dagon; Dagon hath presum'd,
Me overthrown, to enter lists with God,
His deity comparing and preferring

460

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 ere long receive
Such a discomfit, as shall quite despoil him
Of all these boasted trophies won on me,
And with confusion blank his worshippers.

MANOAH.

465

470

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

475

Dagon's worshippers is artfully presignified, as the death of Samson is in other places; but Manoah, as it was natural, accepts the good omen, without thinking of the evil that is to follow.

Against all competition, nor will long
Indure 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 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

480

By pains and slaveries, worse than death inflicted 485 On thee, who now no more canst do them harm.

SAMSON.

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 reveal'd
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 publish'd, impiously,
Weakly at least, and shamefully: a sin
That Gentiles in their parables condemn

500. That Gentiles in their parables condemn &c.] Alluding to the story of Tantalus, who for revealing the secrets of the gods was condemned to pains in hell. Cicero Tusc. Disp. iv. 16.

490

495

500

poetæ impendere apud inferos saxum Tantalo faciunt ob scelera, animique impotentiam, et superbiloquentiam. Euripides assigns the same punishment, and for the same reason. Orestes 8.

To their abyss and horrid pains confin❜d.
MANOAH.

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 th' 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 pleas'd 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-displeas'd
For self-offence, more than for God offended.
Reject not then what offer'd 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 pray'rs and vows renew'd?
SAMSON.

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

ότι θεοις ανθρωπος ων Κοινης τραπέζης αξίωμ' έχων ισον, Ακόλαστον εσχε γλωσσαν, αισχίστην

νόσου.

Mr. Warburton's remark is, that "the ancient mystagogues taught, "that the Gods punished both "the revealers and the violators

505

510

515

520

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 blaz'd,
Fearless of danger, like a petty God

I walk'd about, admir'd of all and dreaded
On hostile ground, none daring my affront.
Then swoll❜n with pride into the snare I fell
Of fair fallacious looks, venereal trains,
Soften'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 wether, all my precious fleece,
Then turn'd me out ridiculous, despoil'd,
Shav'n, and disarm'd among mine enemies.

CHORUS.

Desire of wine and all delicious drinks, Which

many a famous warrior overturns,

Thou could'st repress, nor did the dancing ruby

531. none daring my affront.] None daring to contend with me, and meet me face to face, according to the etymology of the word. See the note on Paradise Lost, ix. 330.

535. -hallow'd pledge] This is the genuine reading of the first edition; in most of the others it is absurdly corrupted into hollow pledge.

538. all my precious fleece,] Read of my precious fleece. Thus in Paradise Lost, i. 596. the sun in a mist is shorn of his beams:

525

530

535

540

and ix. 1059. Samson from the harlot-lap waked shorn of his strength. Meadowcourt.

543. nor did the dancing ruby &c.] The poet here probably alludes to Prov. xxiii. 31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

543. Compare Comus, 672.

-behold this cordial julep here, That flames, and dances in his crystal bounds. T. Warton.

Sparkling, out-pour'd, the flavour, or the smell,
Or taste that cheers the hearts of Gods and men,
Allure thee from the cool crystalline stream.

SAMSON.

Wherever fountain or fresh current flow'd
Against the eastern ray, translucent, pure
With touch ethereal of heav'n's fiery rod,
I drank, from the clear milky juice allaying
Thirst, and refresh'd; nor envied them the grape
Whose heads that turbulent liquor fills with fumes.
CHORUS.

545

550

O madness, to think use of strongest wines And strongest drinks our chief support of health, When God with these forbidd'n made choice to rear 555 His mighty champion, strong above compare,

Whose drink was only from the liquid brook.

545. Or taste that cheers the heart of Gods and men,] Taken from Judg. ix. 13. -wine which cheereth God and man. Milton says Gods, which is a just paraphrase, meaning the hero-gods of the heathen. Jotham is here speaking to an idolatrous city, that ran a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their God: a God sprung from among men, as may be partly collected from his name, as well as from divers other circumstances of the story. Hesiod in a similar expression says, that the vengeance of the fates pursued the crimes of Gods and men. Theog. v. 220.

Λιτ' ανδρων σε θεωντε &c.

Warburton.

Gods and men is the reading of
Milton's own edition, and more