To their abyss and horrid pains confin'd. Be penitent and for thy fault contrite, His pardon I implore; but as for life, To what end should I seek it? when in strength 505 510 515 520 With youthful courage and magnanimous thoughts The sons of Anak, famous now and blaz'd, I walk'd about, admir'd of all and dreaded CHORUS. Desire of wine and all delicious drinks, 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, SAMSON. Wherever fountain or fresh current flow'd 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 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, My nation, and the work from heav'n impos'd, 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? SAMSON. 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 |