From the dry ground to spring, thy thirst t' allay
After the brunt of battel, can as easy

Cause light again within thy eyes to spring,
Wherewith to serve him better than thou hast ; 585
And I perfuade me fo; why else this strength
Miraculous yet remaining in those locks?
His might continues in thee not for nought,
Nor fhall his wondrous gifts be fruftrate thus. 590
Samf. All otherwise to me my thoughts portend,
That these dark orbs no more fhall 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 fpirits 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.

595

Man. Believe not these suggestions which proceed From anguish of the mind and humors black, 600 That mingle with thy fancy. I however Muft not omit a father's timely care

To profecute the means of thy deliverance

By ransome, or how else: mean while be calm,
And healing words from these thy friends admit. 605
Samf. O that torment fhould not be confin'd
To the body's wounds and fores,

With maladies innumerable

In heart, head, breast and reins;

But

With answerable pains, but more intense,
Though void of corporal sense.

615

Thoughts my tormentors arm'd with deadly flings

Mangle my apprehensive tenderest parts,
Exafperate, exulcerate, and raise

Dire inflammation, which no cooling herb
Or medicinal liquor can asswage,

Nor breath of vernal air from snowy Alp.

Sleep hath forfook and giv'n me o'er

625

To death's benumming opium as my only cure: Thence faintings, fwoonings of despair,

And fenfe of Heav'n's defertion.

I was his nurfling once and choice delight,

His deftin'd from the womb,

631

Promis'd by heav'nly message twice descending. 635 Under his fpecial eye

Abftemious I grew up and thriv'd amain;

He

He led me on to mightieft deeds

Above the nerve of mortal arm

Against th' uncircumcis'd, our enemies :
But now hath caft me off as never known,
And to those cruel enemies,

640

Whom I by his appointment had provok'd,
Left me all helpless with th' irreparable loss

Of fight, referv'd alive to be repeated

645

The subject of their cruelty or scorn.

Nor am I in the lift of them that hope;

Hopeless are all my evils, all remedilefs;

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 wife

In ancient and in modern books inroll'd,
Extolling patience as the trueft fortitude;
And to the bearing well of all calamities,
All chances incident to man's frail life,
Confolatories writ

655

With fludy'd argument, and much perfuafion fought Lenient of grief and anxious thought:

But with th' afflicted in his pangs their found 660 Little prevails, or rather seems a tune

Harsh, and of diffonant mood from his complaint; Unless he feel within

Some fource of confolation from above,

Secret refreshings, that repair his strength,

665

And

And fainting spirits uphold.

God of our fathers, what is man!

That thou tow'ards him with hand fo various,

Or might I say contrarious,

Temper'st thy providence through his fhort course, Not ev'nly, as thou rul❜ft

Th' angelic orders and inferior creatures mute,

671

Irrational and brute.

Nor do I name of men the common rout,

That wand'ring loose about

675

Grow up and perish, as the summer flie,
Heads without name no more remember'd,
But fuch as thou haft folemnly elected,
With gifts and graces eminently adorn'd

To fome great work, thy glory,

And people's fafety, which in part they' effect:
Yet toward these thus dignify'd, thou oft
Amidft their highth of noon

680

(regard

Changeft thy count'nance, and thy hand with no Of highest favors paft

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

Nor only doft degrade them, or remit

685

To life obfcur'd, which were a fair difmiffion,
But throw'ft them lower than thou didft exalt them
Unseemly falls in human eye,

Too grievous for the trespass or omiffion;

Oft leav'ft them to the hoftile fword

Of Heathen and profane, their carcases

Q 2

(high,

691

To

To dogs and fowls a prey, or elfe captiv'd; 694
Or to th' unjust tribunals, under change of times,
And condemnation of th' ingrateful multitude.
If these they scape, perhaps in poverty

With fickness and disease thou bow'ft them down,
Painful diseases and deform'd,

In crude old age;

Though not difordinate, yet cauflefs fuff'ring
The punishment of diffolute days: in fine,
Juft or unjuft alike seem miserable,

For oft alike both come to evil end.

700

704

So deal not with this once thy glorious champion, The image of thy ftrength, and mighty minister. What do I beg? how haft thou dealt already? Behold him in this ftate calamitous, and turn His labors, for thou canft, to peaceful end.

But who is this, what thing of sea or land? 710 Female of fex it seems,

'That fo bedeck'd, ornate, and gay,

Comes this way failing

Like a stately ship

Of Tarfus, bound for th' iles

Of Javan or Gadire

715

With all her bravery on, and tackle trim,

Sails fill'd, and ftreamers waving,

Courted by all the winds that hold them play, An amber fent of odorous perfume

Her harbinger, a damfel train behind;

720

Some