Samson Agonistes: Lines 1250-1499
 
 
And with malicious counsel stir them up         1250
Some way or other yet further to afflict thee. 
  Sams. He must allege some cause, and offered fight 
Will not dare mention, lest a question rise 
Whether he durst accept the offer or not; 
And that he durst not plain enough appeared.         1255
Much more affliction than already felt 
They cannot well impose, nor I sustain, 
If they intend advantage of my labours, 
The work of many hands, which earns my keeping, 
With no small profit daily to my owners.         1260
But come what will; my deadliest foe will prove 
My speediest friend, by death to rid me hence; 
The worst that he can give to me the best. 
Yet so it may fall out, because their end 
Is hate, not help to me, it may with mine         1265
Draw their own ruin who attempt the deed. 
  Chor. O, how comely it is, and how reviving 
To the spirits of just men long oppressed, 
When God into the hands of their deliverer 
Puts invincible might,         1270
To quell the mighty of the earth, the oppressor, 
The brute and boisterous force of violent men, 
Hardy and industrious to support 
Tyrannic power, but raging to pursue 
The righteous, and all such as honour truth!         1275
He all their ammunition 
And feats of war defeats, 
With plain heroic magnitude of mind 
And celestial vigour armed; 
Their armouries and magazins contemns,         1280
Renders them useless, while 
With wingèd expedition 
Swift as the lightning glance he executes 
His errand on the wicked, who, surprised, 
Lose their defence, distracted and amazed.         1285
  But patience is more oft the exercise 
Of saints, the trial of their fortitude, 
Making them each his own deliverer, 
And victor over all 
That tyranny or fortune can inflict.         1290
Either of these is in thy lot, 
Samson, with might endued 
Above the sons of men; but sight bereaved 
May chance to number thee with those 
Whom Patience finally must crown.         1295
  This Idol’s day hath been to thee no day of rest, 
Labouring thy mind 
More than the working day thy hands. 
And yet, perhaps, more trouble is behind; 
For I descry this way         1300
Some other tending; in his hand 
A sceptre or quaint staff he bears, 
Comes on amain, speed in his look. 
By his habit I discern him now 
A public officer, and now at hand.         1305
His message will be short and voluble. 
  Off. Ebrews, the prisoner Samson here I seek. 
  Chor. His manacles remark him; there he sits. 
  Off. Samson, to thee our Lords thus bid me say: 
This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,         1310
With sacrifices, triumph, pomp, and games; 
Thy strength they know surpassing human rate, 
And now some public proof thereof require 
To honour this great feast, and great assembly. 
Rise, therefore, with all speed, and come along,         1315
Where I will see thee heartened and fresh clad, 
To appear as fits before the illustrious Lords. them] 
  Sams. Thou know’st I am an Ebrew; therefore tell 
Our law forbids at their religious rites 
My presence; for that cause I cannot come.         1320
  Off. This answer, be assured, will not content them. 
  Sams. Have they not sword-players, and every sort 
Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners, 
Jugglers and dancers, antics, mummers, mimics, 
But they must pick me out, with shackles tired,         1325
And over-laboured at their public mill, 
To make them sport with blind activity? 
Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels, 
On my refusal, to distress me more, 
Or make a game of my calamities?         1330
Return the way thou cam’st; I will not come. 
  Off. Regard thyself; this will offend them highly. 
  Sams. Myself! my conscience, and internal peace. 
Can they think me so broken, so debased 
With corporal servitude, that my mind ever         1335
Will condescend to such absurd commands? 
Although their drudge, to be their fool or jester, 
And, in my midst of sorrow and heart-grief, 
To shew them feats, and play before their god— 
The worst of all indignities, yet on me         1340
Joined with extreme contempt! I will not come. 
  Off. My message was imposed on me with speed, 
Brooks no delay: is this thy resolution? 
  Sams. So take it with what speed thy message needs. 
  Off. I am sorry what this stoutness will produce.         1345
  Sams. Perhaps thou shalt have cause to sorrow indeed. 
  Chor. Consider, Samson; matters now are strained 
Up to the highth, whether to hold or break. 
He’s gone and who knows how he may report 
Thy words by adding fuel to the flame?         1350
Expect another message, more imperious, 
More lordly thundering than thou well wilt bear. 
  Sams. Shall I abuse this consecrated gift 
Of strength, again returning with my hair 
After my great transgression—so requite         1355
Favour renewed, and add a greater sin 
By prostituting holy things to idols, 
A Nazarite, in place abominable, 
Vaunting my strength in honour to their Dagon? 
Besides how vile, contemptible, ridiculous,         1360
What act more execrably unclean, profane? 
  Chor. Yet with this strength thou serv’st the Philistines, 
Idolatrous, uncircumcised, unclean. 
  Sams. Not in their idol-worship, but by labour 
Honest and lawful to deserve my food         1365
Of those who have me in their civil power. 
  Chor. Where the heart joins not, outward acts defile not. 
  Sams. Where outward force constrains, the sentence holds: 
But who constrains me to the temple of Dagon, 
Not dragging? The Philistian Lords command:         1370
Commands are no constraints. If I obey them, 
I do it freely, venturing to displease 
God for the fear of Man, and Man prefer, 
Set God behind; which, in his jealousy, 
Shall never, unrepented, find forgiveness.         1375
Yet that he may dispense with me, or thee, 
Present in temples at idolatrous rites 
For some important cause, thou need’st not doubt. 
  Chor. How thou wilt here come off surmounts my reach. 
  Sams. Be of good courage; I begin to feel         1380
Some rousing motions in me, which dispose 
To something extraordinary in my thoughts. 
I with this messenger will go along— 
Nothing to do, be sure, that may dishonour 
Our Law, or stain my vow of Nazarite.         1385
If there be aught of presage in the mind, 
This day will be remarkable in my life 
By some great act, or of my days the last. 
  Chor. In time thou hast resolved: the man returns. 
  Off. Samson, this second message from our Lords         1390
To thee I am bid say: Art thou our slave, 
Our captive, at the public mill our drudge, 
And dar’st thou, at our sending and command, 
Dispute thy coming? Come without delay; 
Or we shall find such engines to assail         1395
And hamper thee, as thou shalt come of force, 
Though thou wert firmlier fastened than a rock. 
  Sams. I could be well content to try their art, 
Which to no few of them would prove pernicious; 
Yet, knowing their advantages too many,         1400
Because they shall not trail me through their streets 
Like a wild beast, I am content to go. 
Masters’ commands come with a power resistless 
To such as owe them absolute subjection; 
And for a life who will not change his purpose?         1405
(So mutable are all the ways of men!) 
Yet this be sure, in nothing to comply 
Scandalous or forbidden in our Law. 
  Off. I praise thy resolution. Doff these links: 
By this compliance thou wilt win the Lords         1410
To favour, and perhaps to set thee free. 
  Sams. Brethren, farewell. Your company along 
I will not wish, lest it perhaps offend them 
To see me girt with friends; and h w the sight 
Of me, as of a common enemy,         1415
So dreaded once, may now exasperate them 
I know not. Lords are lordliest in their wine; 
And the well-feasted priest then soonest fired 
With zeal, if aught religion seem concerned; 
No less the people, on their holy days,         1420
Impetuous, insolent, unquenchable. 
Happen what may, of me expect to hear 
Nothing dishonourable, impure, unworthy 
Our God, our Law, my nation, or myself; 
The last of me or no I cannot warrant.         1425
  Chor. Go, and the Holy One 
Of Israel be thy guide 
To what may serve his glory best, and spread his name 
Great among the Heathen round; 
Send thee the Angel of thy birth, to stand         1430
Fast by thy side, who from thy father’s field 
Rode up in flames after his message told 
Of thy conception, and be now a shield 
Of fire; that Spirit that first rushed on thee 
In the camp of Dan,         1435
Be efficacious in thee now at need! 
For never was from Heaven imparted 
Measure of strength so great to mortal seed, 
As in thy wondrous actions hath been seen. 
But wherefore comes old Manoa in such haste         1440
With youthful steps? Much livelier than erewhile 
He seems: supposing here to find his son, 
Or of him bringing to us some glad news? 
  Man. Peace with you, brethren! My inducement hither 
Was not at present here to find my son,         1445
By order of the Lords new parted hence 
To come and play before them at their feast. 
I heard all as I came; the city rings, 
And numbers thither flock: I had no will, 
Lest I should see him forced to things unseemly.         1450
But that which moved my coming now was chiefly 
To give ye part with me what hope I have 
With good success to work his liberty. 
  Chor. That hope would much rejoice us to partake 
With thee. Say, reverend sire; we thirst to hear.         1455
  Man. I have attempted, one by one, the Lords, 
Either at home, or through the high street passing, 
With supplication prone and father’s tears, 
To accept of ransom for my son, their prisoner. 
Some much averse I found, and wondrous harsh,         1460
Contemptuous, proud, set on revenge and spite; 
That part most reverenced Dagon and his priests: 
Others more moderate seeming, but their aim 
Private reward, for which both God and State 
They easily would set to sale: a third         1465
More generous far and civil, who confessed 
They had enough revenged, having reduced 
Their foe to misery beneath their fears; 
The rest was magnanimity to remit, 
If some convenient ranson were proposed.         1470
What noise or shout was that? It tore the sky. 
  Chor. Doubtless the people shouting to behold 
Their once great dread, captive and blind before them, 
Or at some proof of strength before them shown. 
  Man. His ransom, if my whole inheritance         1475
May compass it, shall willingly be paid 
And numbered down. Much rather I shall choose 
To live the poorest in my tribe, than richest 
And he in that calamitous prison left. 
No, I am fixed not to part hence without him.         1480
For his redemption all my patrimony, 
If need be, I am ready to forgo 
And quit. Not wanting him, I shall want nothing. 
  Chor. Fathers are wont to lay up for their sons; 
Thou for thy son art bent to lay out all:         1485
Sons wont to nurse their parents in old age; 
Thou in old age car’st how to nurse thy son, 
Made older than thy age through eye-sight lost. 
  Man. It shall be my delight to tend his eyes, 
And view him sitting in his house, ennobled         1490
With all those high exploits by him achieved, 
And on his shoulders waving down those locks 
That of a nation armed the strength contained. 
And I persuade me God hath not permitted 
His strength again to grow up with his hair         1495
Garrisoned round about him like a camp 
Of faithful soldiery, were not his purpose 
To use him further yet in some great service— 
Not to sit idle with so great a gift

Samson Agonistes: Lines 1500-1761
 
 
Useless, and thence ridiculous, about him.         1500
And, since his strength with eye-sight was not lost, 
God will restore him eye-sight to his strength. 
  Chor. Thy hopes are not ill founded, nor seem vain, 
Of his delivery, and thy joy thereon 
Conceived, agreeable to a father’s love;         1505
In both which we, as next, participate. 
  Man. I know your friendly minds, and .. O, what noise! 
Mercy of Heaven! what hideous noise was that? 
Horribly loud, unlike the former shout. 
  Chor. Noise call you it, or universal groan,         1510
As if the whole inhabitation perished? 
Blood, death, and deathful deeds, are in that noise, 
Ruin, destruction at the utmost point. 
  Man. Of ruin indeed methought I heard the noise. 
Oh! it continues; they have slain my son.         1515
  Chor. Thy son is rather slaying them: that outcry 
From slaughter of one foe could not ascend. 
  Man. Some dismal accident it needs must be. 
What shall we do—stay here, or run and see? 
  Chor. Best keep together here, lest, running thither,         1520
We unawares, run into danger’s mouth. 
This evil on the Philistines is fallen: 
From whom could else a general cry be heard? 
The sufferers, then, will scarce molest us here; 
From other hands we need not much to fear.         1525
What if, his eye-sight (for to Israel’s God 
Nothing is hard) by miracle restored, 
He now be dealing dole among his foes, 
And over heaps of slaughtered walk his way? 
  Man. That were a joy presumptuous to be thought.         1530
  Chor. Yet God hath wrought things as incredible 
For his people of old; what hinders now? 
  Man. He can, I know, but doubt to think he will; 
Yet hope would fain subscribe, and tempts belief. 
A little stay will bring some notice hither.         1535
  Chor. Of good or bad so great, of bad the sooner; 
For evil news rides post, while good news baits. 
And to our wish I see one hither speeding— 
An Ebrew, as I guess, and of our tribe. 
  Messenger. O, whither shall I run, or which way fly         1540
The sight of this so horrid spectacle, 
Which erst my eyes beheld, and yet behold? 
For dire imagination still, pursues me. 
But providence or instinct of nature seems, 
Or reason, though disturbed and scarce consulted,         1545
To have guided me aright, I know not how, 
To thee first, reverend Manoa, and to these 
My countrymen, whom here I knew remaining, 
As at some distance from the place of horror, 
So in the sad event too much concerned.         1550
  Man. The accident was loud, and here before thee 
With rueful cry; yet what it was we hear not. 
No preface needs; thou seest we long to know. 
  Mess. It would burst forth; but I recover breath, 
And sense distract, to know well what I utter.         1555
  Man. Tell us the sum; the circumstance defer. 
  Mess. Gaza yet stands; but all her sons are fallen, 
All in a moment overwhelmed and fallen. 
  Man. Sad! but thou know’st to Israelites not saddest 
The desolation of a hostile city.         1560
  Mess. Feed on that first; there may in grief be surfeit. 
  Man. Relate to whom. 
  Mess.    By Samson. 
  Man.        That still lessens 
The sorrow, and converts it nigh to joy.         1565
  Mess. Ah! Manoa, I refrain too suddenly 
To utter what will come at last too soon, 
Lest evil tidings, with too rude irruption 
Hitting thy aged ear, should pierce too deep. 
  Man. Suspense in news is torture; speak them out.         1570
  Mess. Then take the worst in brief: Samson is dead. 
  Man. The worst indeed! O, all my hope’s defeated 
To free him hence! but Death, who sets all free, 
Hath paid his ransom now and full discharge. 
What windy joy this day had I conceived,         1575
Hopeful of his delivery, which now proves 
Abortive as the first-born bloom of spring 
Nipt with the lagging rear of winter’s frost! 
Yet, ere I give the reins to grief, say first 
How died he; death to life is crown or shame.         1580
All by him fell, thou say’st; by whom fell he? 
What glorious hand gave Samson his death’s wound? 
  Mess. Unwounded of his enemies he fell. 
  Man. Wearied with slaughter, then, or how? explain. 
  Mess. By his own hands.         1585
  Man.    Self-violence! What cause 
Brought him so soon at variance with himself 
Among his foes? 
  Mess.    Inevitable cause— 
At once both to destroy and be destroyed.         1590
The edifice, where all were met to see him, 
Upon their heads and on his own he pulled. 
  Man. O lastly over-strong against thyself! 
A dreadful way thou took’st to thy revenge. 
More than enough we know; but, while things yet         1595
Are in confusion, give us, if thou canst, 
Eye-witness of what first or last was done, 
Relation more particular and distinct. 
  Mess. Occasions drew me early to this city; 
And, as the gates I entered with sun-rise,         1600
The morning trumpets festival proclaimed 
Through each high street. Little I had dispatched, 
When all abroad was rumoured that this day 
Samson should be brought forth, to shew the people 
Proof of his mighty strength in feats and games.         1605
I sorrowed at his captive state, but minded 
Not to be absent at that spectacle. 
The building was a spacious theatre, 
Half round on two main pillars vaulted high, 
With seats where all the Lords, and each degree         1610
Of sort, might sit in order to behold; 
The other side was open, where the throng 
On banks and scaffolds under sky might stand: 
I among these aloof obscurely stood. 
The feast and noon grew high, and sacrifice         1615
Had filled their hearts with mirth, high cheer, and wine, 
When to their sports they turned. Immediately 
Was Samson as a public servant brought, 
In their state livery clad: before him pipes 
And timbrels; on each side went armed guards;         1620
Both horse and foot before him and behind, 
Archers and slingers, cataphracts, and spears. 
At sight of him the people with a shout 
Rifted the air, clamouring their god with praise, 
Who had made their dreadful enemy, their thrall.         1625
He patient, but undaunted, where they led him, 
Came to the place; and what was set before him, 
Which without help of eye might be assayed, 
To heave, pull, draw, or break, he still performed 
All with incredible, stupendious force,         1630
None daring to appear antagonist. 
At length, for intermission sake, they led him 
Between the pillars; he his guide requested 
(For so from such as nearer stood we heard), 
As over-tired, to let him lean a while         1635
With both his arms on those two massy pillars, 
That to the arched roof gave main support. 
He unsuspicious led him; which when Samson 
Felt in his arms, with head a while enclined, 
And eyes fast fixed, he stood, as one who prayed,         1640
Or some great matter in his mind revolved: 
At last, with head erect, thus cried aloud:— 
“Hitherto, Lords, what your commands imposed 
I have performed, as reason was, obeying, 
Not without wonder or delight beheld;         1645
Now, of my own accord, such other trial 
I mean to shew you of my strength yet greater 
As with amaze shall strike all who behold.” 
This uttered, straining all his nerves, he bowed; 
As with the force of winds and waters pent         1650
When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars 
With horrible convulsion to and fro 
He tugged, he shook, till down they came, and drew 
The whole roof after them with burst of thunder 
Upon the heads of all who sat beneath,         1655
Lords, ladies, captains, counsellors, or priests, 
Their choice nobility and flower, not only 
Of this, but each Philistian city round, 
Met from all parts to solemnize this feast. 
Samson, with these immixed, inevitably         1660
Pulled down the same destruction on himself; 
The vulgar only scaped, who stood without. 
  Chor. O dearly bought revenge, yet glorious! 
Living or dying thou has fulfilled 
The work for which thou wast foretold         1665
To Israel, and now liest victorious 
Among thy slain self-killed; 
Not willingly, but tangled in the fold 
Of dire Necessity, whose law in death conjoined 
Thee with thy slaughtered foes, in number more         1670
Than all thy life had slain before. 
  Semichor. While their hearts were jocund and sublime, 
Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine 
And fat regorged of bulls and goats, 
Chaunting their idol, and preferring         1675
Before our Living Dread, who dwells 
In Silo, his bright sanctuary, 
Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent, 
Who hurt their minds, 
And urged them on with mad desire         1680
To call in haste for their destroyer. 
They, only set on sport and play, 
Unweetingly importuned 
Their own destruction to come speedy upon them. 
So fond are mortal men,         1685
Fallen into wrath divine, 
As their own ruin on themselves to invite, 
Insensate left, or to sense reprobate, 
And with blindness internal struck. 
  Semichor. But he, though blind of sight,         1690
Despised, and thought extinguished quite, 
With inward eyes illuminated, 
His fiery virtue roused 
From under ashes into sudden flame, 
And as an evening Dragon came,         1695
Assailant on the perched roosts 
And nests in order ranged 
Of tame villatic fowl, but as an Eagle 
His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads. 
So Virtue, given for lost,         1700
Depressed and overthrown, as seemed, 
Like that self-begotten bird 
In the Arabian woods embost, 
That no second knows nor third, 
And lay erewhile a holocaust,         1705
From out her ashy womb now teemed, 
Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most 
When most unactive deemed; 
And, though her body die, her fame survives, 
A secular bird, ages of lives.         1710
  Man. Come, come; no time for lamentation now, 
Nor much more cause. Samson hath quit himself 
Like Samson, and heroicly hath finished 
A life heroic, on his enemies 
Fully revenged—hath left them years of mourning,         1715
And lamentation to the sons of Caphtor 
Through all Philistian bounds; to Israel 
Honour hath left and freedom, let but them 
Find courage to lay hold on this occasion; 
To himself and father’s house eternal fame;         1720
And, which is best and happiest yet, all this 
With God not parted from him, as was feared, 
But favouring and assisting to the end. 
Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail 
Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt,         1725
Dispraise, or blame; nothing but well and fair, 
And what may quiet us in a death so noble. 
Let us go find the body where it lies 
Soaked in his enemies’ blood, and from the stream 
With lavers pure, and cleansing herbs, wash off         1730
The clotted gore. I, with what speed the while 
(Gaza is not in plight to say us nay), 
Will send for all my kindred, all my friends, 
To fetch him hence, and solemnly attend, 
With silent obsequy and funeral train,         1735
Home to his father’s house. There will I build him 
A monument, and plant it round with shade 
Of laurel ever green and branching palm, 
With all his trophies hung, and acts enrolled 
In copious legend, or sweet lyric song.         1740
Thither shall all the valiant youth resort, 
And from his memory inflame their breasts 
To matchless valour and adventures high; 
The virgins also shall, on feastful days, 
Visit his tomb with flowers, only bewailing         1745
His lot unfortunate in nuptial choice, 
From whence captivity and loss of eyes. 
  Chor. All is best, though we oft doubt 
What the unsearchable dispose 
Of Highest Wisdom brings about,         1750
And ever best found in the close. 
Oft He seems to hide his face, 
But unexpectedly returns, 
And to his faithful Champion hath in place 
Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns,         1755
And all that band them to resist 
His uncontrollable intent. 
His servants He, with new acquist 
Of true experience from this great event, 
With peace and consolation hath dismissed,         1760
And calm of mind, all passion spent.