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That heroic, that renown'd,

Irresistible Samson; whom unarmed

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No strength of man, or fiercest wild beast could withstand?

Who tore the lion, as the lion tears the kid;

Ran on imbattled armies clad in iron,

And, weaponless himself,

Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery

Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd cuirass,

Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail

Adamantéan proof?

But safest he who stood aloof,

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When insupportably his foot advanc'd,

In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools,

Spurn'd them to death by troops. The bold Ascalonite

Fled from his lion ramp; old warriors turn'd

Their plated backs under his heel;

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Or, grov'ling, soil'd their crested helmets in the dust.

Then with what trivial weapon came to hand,

The jaw of a dead ass, his sword of bone,

A thousand foreskins fell, the flow'r of Palestine,

In Ramoth-lechi, famous to this day.

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Then by main force pull'd up, and on his shoulders

Bore the gates of Gaza, post, and massy bar,

Up to the hill by Hebron, scat of giants old,

No journey of a sabbath-day, and loaded so ;

Like whom the Gentiles feign to bear up Heav'n.

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Which shall I first bewail,

Thy bondage, or lost sight,

Prison within prison

Inseparably daik?

Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!)

The dungeon of thyself; thy soul,

(Which men enjoying sight out without canse complain)

VOL. III.

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Imprison'd now indeed,

In real darkness of the body dwells,
Shut up from outward light
Tincorporate with gloomy night;
For inward light, alas!
Puts forth no visual beam.

O mirror of our fickle state,
Since man on earth unparallel'd!

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The rarer thy example stands,

By how much from the top of wond'rous glory,

Strongest of mortal men,

To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n.

For him I reckon not in high estate

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Whom long descent of birth,

Or the sphere of fortune, raises;

But thee whose strength, while virtue was her mate,
Might have subdu'd the earth,

Universally crown'd with highest praises.

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Sams. I hear the sound of words; their sense the air

Dissolves unjointed ere it reach my ear.

Chor. He speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless in might,

The glory late of Israel, now the grief;

We come, thy friends and neighbours not unknown;

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From Eshtaol and Zora's fruitful vale,

To visit or bewail thee; or, if better,

Counsel or consolation we may bring,

Salve to thy sores; apt words have pow'r to swage
The tumours of a troubled mind,

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And are as balm to fester'd wounds.

Sams. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I learn

Now of my own experience, not by talk,

How counterfeit a coin they are who friends

Bear in their superscription (of the most

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I would be understood) in prosp'rous days

They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head,
Not to be found, though sought. Ye see, O friends,
How many evils have inclos'd me round:
Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,
Blindness; for had I sight, confus'd with shame,
How could I once look up, or heave the head,
Who, like a foolish pilot, have shipwreck'd
My vessel trusted to me from above,
Gloriously rigg'd; and for a word, a tear,
Fool! have divulg'd the secret gift of God
To a deceitful woman? tell me, friends,
Am I not sung and proverb'd for a fool
In ev'ry street? do they not say, how well
Are come upon him his deserts? yet why?
Immeasurable strength they might behold
In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean ;
This with the other should, at least, have pair'd,
These two, proportion'd ill, drove me transverse.
Chor. Tax not divine disposal; wisest men
Have err'd, and by had women been deceiv'd;
And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise.
Deject not then so overmuch thyself,
Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides:
Yet, truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder
Why thon shouldst wed Philistian woman rather
Than of thy own fribe fairer, or as fair,
At least of thy own nation' and as noble.

Sams. The first I saw at Timna, and she pleas'd
Me, not my parents, that I sought to wed,
The daughter of an infidel: they knew not
That what I motioned was of God: I knew
From intimate impúlse, and therefore urg'd

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The marriage on; that by occasion hence
I might begin Israel's deliverance,
The work to which I was divinely call'd.
She proving false, the next 1 took to wife
(0 that I never had! fond wish too late,)
Was in the vale of Sorec, Dalila,

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That specious monster, my accomplish'd snare.
I thought it lawful from my former act,
And the same end; still watching to oppress
Israel's oppressors of what now ! suffer
She was not the prime cause, but I myself,

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Who, vanquish'd with a peal of words (O weakness!)

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Gave up my fort of silence to a woman.

Chor. In seeking just occasion to provoke

The Philistine, thy country's enemy,

Thou never wast remiss, I bear thee witness:

Yet Israël still serves with all his sons.

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Sams. That fault I take not on me, but transfer

On Israel's governors, and heads of tribes,

Who, seeing those great acts which God had done

Singly by me against their conquerors,

Acknowledg'd not, or not at all considered,

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Deliv'rauce offer'd I on th' other side

Us'd no ambition to command my deeds;

The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the doer :

But they persisted deaf, and would not seem

To count them things worth notice, till at length

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Their lords the Philistines with gather'd pow'rs
Enter'd Judea seeking me, who then
Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd;
Not flying, but fore-casting in what place
To set upon them, what advantag'd best:
nwhile the men of Judah, to prevent

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The harrass of their land, beset me round;

I willingly on some conditions came

Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me
To the uncircumcis'd a welcome prey,

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Bound with two cords, but cords to me were threads

Touch'd with the flame: on their whole host I flew
Unarm'd, and with a trivial weapon fell'd

Their choicest youth; they only liv'd who fled.
Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole tribe,

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They had by this possess'd the tow'rs of Gath,
And lorded over them whom they now serve:
But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt,
And by their vices brought to servitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty,
And to despise, or envy, or suspect

Whom God hath of his special favour rais'd
As their deliv'rer; if he aught begin,

How frequent to desert him, and at last

To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?

Chor. Thy words to my remembrance bring

How Succoth and the fort of Penuel

Their great deliverer contemn'd,

The matchless Gideon in pursuit

Of Magian and her vanquish'd kings:

And how ingrateful Ephraïm

Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument,
Not worse than by his shield and spear,
Defended Israel from the Ammonite,
Ead not his prowess quell'd their pride
In that sore battle, when so many dy'd -
Without reprieve, adjudg'd to death,
For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth

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