Changest thy count'nance, and thy hand with no regard Of highest favours past From thee on them, or them to thee of service. Nor only dost degrade them, or remit To life obscur'd, which were a fair dismission, 685 But throw'st them lower than thou didst exalt them high, Unseemly falls in human eye, Too grievous for the trespass or omission; Oft leav'st them to the hostile sword Of heathen and profane, their carcases To dogs and fowls a prey, or else captiv'd ; 690 Or to th' unjust tribunals, under change of times, 695 695. Or to th' unjust tribunals, under change of times, &c.] Here no doubt Milton reflected upon the trials and sufferings of his party after the Restoration: and probably he might have in mind particularly the case of Sir Harry Vane, whom he has so highly celebrated in one of his sonnets. If these they scape, perhaps in poverty &c; this was his own case; he escaped with life, but lived in poverty; and though he was always very sober and temperate, yet he was much afflicted with the gout and other painful diseases in crude old age, cruda senectus, when he was not yet a very old man: Though not disordinate, yet causeless suff'ring The punishment of dissolute days. Some time after I had written VOL. III. And condemnation of th' ingrateful multitude. If these they scape, perhaps in poverty With sickness and disease thou bow'st them down, Painful diseases and deform'd, In crude old age; Though not disordinate, yet causeless suff'ring 700 The trials and condemnation of Vane and the Regicides. The concluding verses describe his own case, If these they scape, perhaps in pʊverty Painful discases and deform'd— Though not disordinate, yet causeless suff'ring The punishment of dissolute days: His losses in the Excise, and his gout not caused by intemperance. But Milton was the most heated enthusiast of his time; speaking of Charles the First's murder in his Defence of the People of England he says, Quanquam ego hæc divino potius instinctu geɛta esse crediderim, quoties memoria repeto &c. 700. In crude old age;] Crude old age in Virgil and in other writers is strong and robust, -cruda Deo viridisque senectus. But Milton uses crude here for premature and coming before its time, as cruda funera in Statius: old age brought on by poverty and by sickness, as Hesiod says Egy. 93. Αίψα γαρ εν κακότητι βροτοι καταγε ρασκουσι. Jortin. So deal not with this once thy glorious champion, 705 The image of thy strength, and mighty minister. What do I beg? how hast thou dealt already? Behold him in this state calamitous, and turn His labours, for thou canst, to peaceful end. But who is this, what thing of sea or land? 710 With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, Sails fill'd, and streamers waving, Courted by all the winds that hold them play, 714. Like a stately ship &c.] The thought of comparing a woman to a ship is not entirely new. Plautus has in his Pænulus, i. ii. 1. it Negotii sibi qui volet vim parare, Navem et mulierem, hæc duo comparato. Nam nullæ magis res duæ plus negotii 720 Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii. sc. 8. speaking of the ship-tire, says, "it was an open head"dress, with a kind of scarf depending from behind. Its "name of ship-tire was, I pre"sume, from its giving the "wearer some resemblance of a "ship (as Shakespeare says) in "all her trim: with all her pen"nants out, and flags and "streamers flying. Thus Milton "in Samson Agonistes paints "Dalila. This was an image "familiar with the poets of that "time. Thus Beaumont and "Fletcher in their play of Wit "without Money-She spreads "sattens as the king's ships do canvas &c." Habent, forte si occeperis ornare, &c. Of Tarsus, there is frequent mention in Scripture of the ships of Tarshish, which Milton as well as some commentators might conceive to be the same as Tarsus in Cilicia: bound for th' isles of Javan, that is Greece, for Javan or Ion the fourth son of Japheth is said to have peopled Greece and Ionia: or Gadire, Faduga, 720. An amber scent of odorous Gades, Cadiz. Mr. Warburton perfume] Ambergris was now in his notes upon Shakespeare, in high repute for its fragrance. Her harbinger, a damsel train behind; SAMSON. My wife, my traitress, let her not come near me. 725 CHORUS. Yet on she moves, now stands and eyes thee fix'd, About t' have spoke, but now, with head declin'd Like a fair flow'r surcharg'd with dew, she weeps, And words address'd seem into tears dissolv'd, Wetting the borders of her silken veil : But now again she makes address to speak. DALILA. With doubtful feet and wavering resolution See Drayton, Polyolb. s. xx. vol. As 'mongst all flowres the rose ex- As amber 'mongst the fragrant'st smells. See also A Poem Royal, 1641 ibid. And Jonson's Cynth. Rev. a. v. s. 4. And in the Winter's Tale, a. iv. s. 3. -necklace-amber Perfume for a lady's chamber. 726. Yet on she moves, &c.] Like Ismene in the Antigone of Sophocles, ver. 532. Και μην προ πυλων ήδ' Ισμηνη 730 Mr. Jortin and Mr. Thyer both concurred in the same observation, and therefore it is more likely to be true. 729. And words address'd &c.] This verse is printed imperfect in most of the editions, And words address'd seem tears dissolv'd, that being wanted which is in the first edition, And words address'd seem into tears dissolv'd. Mr. Jortin conjectured it should be so read, without seeing the first edition. 732. With doubtful feet &c.] The scene between Samson and Dalila is drawn up with great judgment, and particular beauty. One cannot conceive a more artful, soft, and persuasive eloquence than that which is put into the mouth of Dalila, nor is the part I came, still dreading thy displeasure, Samson, I cannot but acknowledge; yet if tears My penance hath not slacken'd, though my pardon To lighten what thou suffer'st, and appease Out, out hyæna; these are thy wonted arts, of Samson less to be admired for that stern and resolute firmness which runs through it. What also gives both parts a great additional beauty is their forming so fine a contrast to each other. Thyer. 748. Out, out hyana;] The hyæna is a creature somewhat like a wolf, and is said to imitate a human voice so artfully as to draw people to it, and then devour them. So Solinus, the transcriber of Pliny, cap. 27. Multa de ea mira: primum quod 735 740 745 750 sequitur stabula pastorum, et auditu assiduo addiscit vocamen, quod exprimere possit imitatione vocis humanæ, ut in hominem astu accitum nocte sæviat. A celebrated tragic writer makes use of the same comparison. Orphan, act ii. 'Tis thus the false hyæna makes her moan, To draw the pitying traveller to her den; Your sex are so, such false dissemblers all, &c. |