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The miracle of men; then in an hour
Insnar'd, 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

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Be' it but for honor's sake of former deeds.
SAM. Appoint not heav'nly disposition, Father;
Nothing of all these evils hath befall'n me
But justly; I myself have brought them on,
Sole author I, sole cause: if ought seem vile,
As vile hath been my folly, who' have profan'd
The mystery of God giv'n me under pledge
Of vow, and have betray'd it to a woman,
A Canaanite, my faithless enemy.
This well I knew, nor was at all surpris'd,
But warn'd by oft experience: did not she
Of Timna first betray me, and reveal
The secret wrested from me in her highth
Of nuptial love profess'd, carrying it strait
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 offer'd only, by the sent conceiv'd
Her spurious first-born, treason against me?
Thrice she assay'd with flattering pray'rs and sighs,
And amorous reproaches, to win from me

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My capital secret, in what part my strength [know;
Lay stor❜d, in what part summ'd, that she might
Thrice I deluded her, and turn'd to sport
Her importunity, each time perceiving
How openly, and with what impudence

She purpos'd to betray me, and (which was worse
Than undissembled hate) with what contempt 400
She sought to make me traitor to myself;

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Yet the fourth time, when must'ring all her wiles,
With blandish'd parlies, femenine assaults,
Tongue-batteries, she surceas'd not day nor night
To storm me overwatch'd, and weary'd out,
At times when men seek most repose and rest,
I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart,
Who with a grain of manhood well resolv'd
Might easily have shook off all her snares;
But foul effeminacy held me yok'd'
Her bond-slave; O indignity, O blot
To honor and religion! servile mind
Rewarded well with servile punishment!
The base degree to which I now am fall'n.
These rags, this grinding is not yet so base
As was my former servitude, ignoble,
Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,

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True slavery, and that blindnes worse than this, That saw not how degenerately I serv’d.

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MAN. I cannot praise thy marriage choices, Son, Rather approv'd them not; but thou didst plead Divine impulsion prompting how thou might'st Find some occasion to infest our foes.

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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

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Tacit was in thy power: true; and thou bear'st 430
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 proclame
Great pomp, and sacrifice, and praises loud
To Dagon, as their god who hath deliver'd
Thee, Samson, bound and blind into their hands,
Them out of thine, who slew'st them many a slain.
So Dagon shall be magnify'd, and God,
Besides whom is no god, compar'd with idols
Disglorify'd, blasphem'd, 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, 445
Of all reproach the most with shame that ever
Could have befall'n thee and thy father's house.
SAM. Father, I do acknowledge and confess
That I this honor, I this pomp have brought
To Dagon, and advanc'd his praises high 450
Among the Heathen round; to God have brought
Dishonor, obloquy, and op'd the mouths
Of idofists, and atheists; have brought scandal

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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

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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
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.

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MAN. With cause this hope relieves thee, and these

I as a prophecy receive; for God,

Nothing more certain, will not long defer

[words

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 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 ransome: well they may by this

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Have satisfy'd their utmost of revenge

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

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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
To their abyss and horrid pains confin’d.
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 th' execution leave to high disposal,

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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 ;

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(Best pleas'd with humble' and filial submission) Him who imploring mercy sues for life,

Than who self-rigorous chooses death as due;

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