SAMSON. But what avail'd this temp'rance, not complete And at another to let in the foe, Effeminately vanquish'd? by which means, 560 Now blind, dishearten'd, sham'd, dishonour'd, quell'd, My nation, and the work from heav'n impos'd, years Here rather let me drudge and earn my bread, Consume me, and oft-invocated death Hasten the welcome end of all my pains. MANOAH. Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift shave his head. See Numb. vi. Amos ii. 12. Richardson. 566. But to sit idle on the household hearth, &c.] It is supposed, with probability enough, that Milton chose Samson for his subject, because he was fellowsufferer with him in the loss of his eyes; however one may venture to say, that the similitude of their circumstances in this respect has enriched the poem with several very pathetic descriptions of the misery of blindness. Thyer. 565 570 575 569.-clust'ring] See the notes on Par. Lost, iv. 303. E. 571. -craze my limbs] He uses the word craze much in the same manner as in the Paradise Lost, xii. 210. where see the note; and I would always recommend it to the reader, when an uncommon word especially occurs in two or more different places, to compare the places together for the better understanding of our author. Which was expressly giv'n thee to annoy them? All otherwise to me my thoughts portend, That these dark orbs no more shall treat with light, But yield to double darkness nigh at hand: 581. But God who caus'd a fountain at thy prayer From the dry ground to spring, &c.] Judges xv. 18, 19. And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. We see that Milton differs from our translation. Our translation says that God clave an hollow place that was in the 580 585 590 jaw: but Milton says that God caused a fountain from the dry ground to spring and herein he follows the Chaldee paraphrast and the best commentators, who understand it that God made a cleft in some part of the ground or rock, in the place called Lehi, Lehi signifying both a jaw and a place so called. 588. His might continues &c.] A fine preparative, which raises our expectation of some great event to be produced by his strength. Warburton. 594. So much I feel my genial spirits droop, &c.] Here Milton in the person of Samson describes exactly his own case, what he My hopes all flat, nature within me seems MANOAH. Believe not these suggestions which proceed To prosecute the means of thy deliverance By ransom, or how else: mean while be calm, O that torment should not be confin'd To the body's wounds and sores, felt, and what he thought in 595 600 605 duces Satan in the shape of a -'tis but the lees 606. 0 that torment should not be confin'd &c.] Milton, no doubt, was apprehensive that this long description of Samson's grief and misery might grow tedious to the reader, and therefore here with great judgment varies both his manner of expressing it and the versification. These sudden starts of impatience are very natural to persons in such circumstances, and this rough and unequal measure of the verses is very well suited to it. Thyer. 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, 615 My griefs not only pain me As a ling'ring disease, But finding no redress, ferment and rage, Rankle, and fester, and gangrene, To black mortification. Thoughts my tormentors arm'd with deadly stings Dire inflammation, which no cooling herb 623. Thoughts my tormentors arm'd with deadly stings Mangle &c.] This descriptive imagery is fine and well pursued. The idea is taken from the effects of poisonous salts in the stomach and bowels, which stimulate, tear, inflame, and exulcerate the tender fibres, and end in a mortification, which he calls death's benumbing opium, as in that stage the pain is over. Warburton. 627. Or medicinal liquor can asswage,] Here medicínal is pronounced with the accent upon the last syllable but one, as in Latin: which is more musical 620 625 than as we commonly pronounce it medicinal with the accent upon the last syllable but two, or med'cinal as Milton has used it in the Mask. The same musical pronunciation occurs in Shakespeare. Othello, act v. sc. 10. Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum. 628, from snowy Alp.] He uses Alp for mountain in general, as in the Paradise Lost, ii. 620. O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp. Alp in the strict etymology of the word signifies a mountain white with snow. We have in Sleep hath forsook and giv'n me o'er To death's benumbing opium as my only cure: And sense of heav'n's desertion. 630 I was his nursling once, and choice delight, But now hath cast me off as never known, Whom I by his appointment had provok'd, deed appropriated the name to the high mountains which separate Italy from France and Germany; but any high mountain may be so called, and so Sidonius Apollinaris calls mount Athos, speaking of Xerxes cutting through it, Carmen ii. 510. -cui ruptus Athos, cui remige Medo Turgida sylvosam currebant vela per Alpem. And the old Glossary interprets Alps by on a high mountains. 633. I was his nursling once 645 &c.] This part of Samson's speech is little more than a repetition of what he had said before, ver. 23. O wherefore was my birth from heav'n foretold Twice by an angel &c. But yet it cannot justly be imputed as a fault to our author. Grief though eloquent is not tied to forms, and is besides apt in its own nature frequently to recur to and repeats its source and object. Thyer. |