Hophni* and Phinehas. The fam'd ark itself
Since thou provok'st th' unwelcome truth, how all Your blushing priests beheld their idol's shame, When prostrate Dagon fell before the ark,
And your frail god was shiver'd.
Then Philistia, Idolatrous Philistia, flew for succour
To Israel's help, and all her smitten nobles Confess'd the Lord was God; and the bless'd ark, Gladly, with reverential awe restor❜d.
Gol. By Ashdod's fane, thou liest. Now will I meet thee,
Thou insect warrior, since thou dar'st me thus !
Already I behold thy mangled limbs,
Dissever'd each from each, ere long to feed
The fierce blood-snuffing vulture.
Around my spear I'll twist thy shining locks,
And toss in air thy head all gash'd with wounds,
Thy lip yet quiv'ring with the dire convulsion
Of recent death!-Art thou not terrified?
Dav.
No:
True courage is not mov'd by breath of words:
While the rash bravery of boiling blood,
Impetuous, knows no settled principle.
A fev'rish tide, it has its ebbs and flows,
As spirits rise or fall, as wine inflames,
Or circumstances change. But inborn courage,
The gen'rous child of fortitude and faith,
Holds its firm empire in the constant soul;
And, like the stedfast pole-star, never once
From the same fix'd and faithful point declines.
Gol. The curses of Philistia's gods be on thee! This fine-drawn speech is meant to lengthen out That little life thy words pretend to scorn.
* Commentators say, that the Chaldee Paraphrase makes Goliath boast that he had killed Hophni and Phinehas, and taken the ark prisoner.
Dav. Ha! say'st thou so? Come on then. Mark
Thou com'st to me with sword, and spear, and shield:
In the dread name of Israel's God I come ;
The living Lord of hosts, whom thou defiest!
Yet though no shield I bring, no arms except
These five smooth stones I gather'd from the brook,
With such a simple sling as shepherds use,-
'Yet all expos'd, defenceless as I am,
The God I serve shall give thee up a prey
To my
victorious arm. This day I mean
To make th' uncircumcised tribes confess
There is a God in Israel. I will give thee,
Spite of thy vaunted strength and giant bulk,
To glut the carrion kites. Nor thee alone;
The mangled carcases of your thick hosts
Shall spread the plains of Elah, till Philistia,
Through all her trembling tents and flying bands,
Shall own that Judah's God is God indeed!
-I dare thee to the trial.
In this good spear I trust.
The God of battle stimulates my arm,
And fires my soul with ardour not its own.
Saul. (rising from his couch.) Oh! that I knew the black and midnight arts Of wizard sorcery! that I could call
The slumb'ring spirit from the shades of hell!
Or, like Chaldean sages, could foreknow
Th' event of things unacted! I might then
Anticipate my fortune. How I'm fallen!
The sport of vain chimeras, the weak slave
Of fear and fancy; coveting to know
The arts obscene, which foul diviners use.
Thick blood and moping melancholy lead
To baleful superstition,-that fell fiend,
Whose withering charms blast the fair bloom of virtue.
Why did my wounded pride with scorn reject
The wholesome truths which holy Samuel told me ?
Why drive him from my presence? he might now
Raise my sunk soul, and my benighted mind
Enlighten with religion's cheering ray.
He dared to menace me with loss of empire;
And I, for that bold honesty, dismiss'd him.
"Another shall possess thy throne," he cried:
"A stranger!" This unwelcome prophecy
Has lined my crown, and strewed my couch, with thorns.
Each ray of op'ning merit I discern
In friend or foe, distracts my troubled soul,
Lest he should prove my rival. But this morn,
E'en my young champion, lovely as he look'd
In blooming valour, struck me to the soul
With jealousy's barb'd dart. O jealousy,
Thou ugliest fiend of hell! thy deadly venom
Preys on my vitals, turns the healthful hue
Of my fresh cheek to haggard sallowness,
And drinks my spirit up!
[A flourish of trumpets, shouting, &c.
What sounds are those?
Hark! again
The combat is decided.
Those shouts proclaim it!
Now, O God of Jacob,
If yet thou hast not quite withdrawn from Saul
Thy light and favour, prosper me this once!
But Abner comes ! I dread to hear his tale!
Fair hope, with smiling face but lingering foot,
Has long deceiv'd me.
Now thou art king indeed. The youth has con
Then God is gracious still,
my offences! But, good Abner!
How was it? Tell me all. Where is my champion?
Quick let me press him to my grateful heart,
And pay him a king's thanks. And yet, who knows,
This forward friend may prove an active foe!
No more of that. Tell me the whole, brave Abner!
And paint the glorious acts of my young hero!
Ab. Full in the centre of the camp they stood: Th' opposing armies ranged on either side In proud array. The haughty giant stalk'd, Stately across the valley. Next, the youth With modest confidence advanced. Nor pomp, Nor gay parade, nor martial ornament, His graceful form adorn'd. Goliath straight, With solemn state, began the busy work Of dreadful preparation. In one place His closely-jointed mail an op'ning left For air, and only one: the watchful youth Mark'd that the beaver of his helm was up. Meanwhile the giant such a blow devised
As would have crushed him. This the youth perceiv'd,
And from his well-directed sling quick hurl'd,
With dext'rous aim, a stone, which sunk, deep lodg'd,
In the capacious forehead of the foe.
Then with a cry, as loud and terrible
As Libyan lions roaring for their young,
Quite stunn'd, the furious giant stagger'd, reel'd,
And fell the mighty mass of man fell prone.
With its own weight his shatter'd bulk was bruis'd.
His clattering arms rang dreadful through the field,
And the firm basis of the solid earth
Shook. Choked with blood and dust, he curs'd his gods,
And died blaspheming! Straight the victor youth
Drew from its sheath the giant's ponderous sword,
And from th' enormous trunk the gory head
Furious in death he sever'd. The grim visage
Look'd threat'ning still, and still frown'd horribly.
Saul. O, glorious deed! O, valiant conqueror !
Ab. The youth so calm appear'd, so nobly firm,
So cool, yet so intrepid, that these eyes
Ne'er saw such temperate valour so chastis'd
By modesty.
Thou dwell'st upon his praise
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