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

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' ανδρών τε θεωντε &c.

Warburton.

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

SAMSON.

But what avail'd this temp'rance, not complete Against another object more enticing?

What boots it at one gate to make defence,

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,
To what can I be useful, wherein serve

My nation, and the work from heav'n impos'd,
But to sit idle on the household hearth,
A burd'nous drone; to visitants a gaze,
Or pitied object, these redundant locks
Robustious to no purpose clust'ring down,
Vain monument of strength; till length of
And sedentary numbness craze my limbs
To a contemptible old age obscure?
Here rather let me drudge and earn my bread,
Till vermin or the draff of servile food

Consume me, and oft-invocated death

Hasten the welcome end of all my pains.

MANOAH.

years

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?
Better at home lie bed-rid, not only idle,
Inglorious, unemploy'd, with age outworn.
But God who caus'd a fountain at thy prayer
From the dry ground to spring, thy thirst t' allay
After the brunt of battle, can as easy
Cause light again within thy eyes to spring,
Wherewith to serve him better than thou hast ;
And I persuade me so; why else this strength
Miraculous yet remaining in those locks?
His might continues in thee not for nought,
Nor shall his wondrous gifts be frustrate thus.

SAMSON.

All otherwise to me my thoughts portend,

That these dark orbs no more shall 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 spirits droop,

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