One virtuous, rarely found,
That in domestic good combines :
Happy that house! his way to peace is smooth;
But virtue, which breaks through all opposition,
And all temptation can remove,
Most shines and most is acceptable above.
Therefore God's universal law
Gave to the man despotic power
Over his female in due awe,
Nor from that right to part an hour,
Smile she or lour:
So shall he least confusion draw
On his whole life, not sway'd
By female usurpation, or dismay'd.
But had we best retire ? I see a storm,
SAMS. Fair days have oft contracted wind and rain.
CHOR. But this another kind of tempest brings.
SAMS. Be less abstruse, my riddling days are past.
CHOR. Look now for no enchanting voice, nor fear
The bait of honied words; a rougher tongue
Draws hitherward, I know him by his stride,
The giant Harapha of Gath, his look
Haughty as is his pile high-built and proud.
Comes he in peace? what wind hath blown him hither
I less conjecture than when first I saw
The sumptuous Dalila floating this way:
His habit carries peace, his brow defiance.
SAMS. Or peace or not, alike to me he comes.
CHOR. His fraught we soon shall know, he now arrives
HAR. I come not, Samson, to condole thy chance,
As these perhaps, yet wish it had not been,
Though for no friendly intent. I am of Gath,
Men call me Harapha, of stock renown'd
As Og, or Anak, and the Emims old
That Kiriathaim" held; thou know'st me now
If thou at all art known. Much I have heard
Of thy prodigious might and feats perform'd,
Freight; his purpose, with which he is freighted
Gen. xiv. 5.
Incredible to me, in this displeased,
That I was never present on the place
Of those encounters, where we might have tried
Each other's force in camp or listed field:
And now am come to see of whom such noise
Hath walk'd about, and each limb to survey,
If thy appearance answer loud report.
SAMS. The way to know were not to see but taste.
HAR. Dost thou already single me? I thought
Gyves' and the mill had tamed thee. O that fortune
Had brought me to the field where thou art famed
To have wrought such wonders with an ass's jaw!
I should have forced thee soon with other arms,
Or left thy carcass where the ass lay thrown;
So had the glory of prowess been recover'd
To Palestine, won by a Philistine
From the unforeskinn'd race, of whom thou bear'st
The highest name for valiant acts: that honour
Certain to have won by mortal duel from thee,
I lose, prevented by thy eyes put out.
SAMS. Boast not of what thou would'st have done, but do
What then thou would'st, thou seest it in thy hand.
HAR. To combat with a blind man I disdain,
And thou hast need much washing to be touch'd.
SAMS. Such usage as your honourable lords
Afford me assassinated and betray'd,
Who durst not with their whole united powers
In fight withstand me single and unarm'd,
Nor in the house with chamber ambushes
Close-banded durst attack me, no not sleeping,
Till they had hired a woman with their gold,
Breaking her marriage faith to circumvent me.
Therefore without feign'd shifts let be assign'd
Some narrow place inclosed, where sight may give thee,
Or rather flight, no great advantage on me;
Then put on all thy gorgeous arms, thy helmet
And brigandine of brass thy broad habergeon,
8 Coat of mail, armour for the neck
Vant-brass and greves, and gauntlet, add thy spear,
A weaver's beam, and seven-times-folded shield,
I only with an oaken staff will meet thee,
And raise such outcries on thy clatter'd iron,
Which long shall not withhold me from thy head,
That in a little time, while breath remains thee,
Thou oft shalt wish thyself at Gath to boast
Again in safety what thou wouldst have done
To Samson, but shall never see Gath more.
HAR. Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms,
Which greatest heroes have in battle worn,
Their ornament and safety, had not spells
And black enchantment, some magician's art, [heav'n
Arm'd thee, or charm'd thee strong, which thou from
Feign'dst at thy birth was giv'n thee in thy hair,
Where strength can least abide, though all thy hairs
Were bristles ranged like those that ridge the back
Of chafed wild boars or ruffled porcupines.
SAMS. I know no spells, use no forbidden arts;
My trust is in the living GOD, who gave me
At my nativity this strength, diffused
No less through all my sinews, joints, and bones,
Than thine, while I preserved these locks unshorn,
The pledge of my unviolated vow.
For proof hereof, if Dagon be thy god,
Go to his temple, invocate his aid
With solemnest devotion, spread before him
How highly it concerns his glory now
To frustrate and dissolve these magic spella,
Which I to be the power of Israel's Go
Avow, and challenge Dagon to the test,
Off'ring to combat thee his champion bold,
With th' utmost of his godhead seconded:
Then thou shalt see, or rather to thy sorrow
Soon feel, whose GoD is strongest, thine or mine.
HAR. Presume not on thy God, whate'er he be,
Thee he regards not, owns not, hath cut off
Quite from his people, and deliver'd up
Into thy enemies' hand, permitted them
To put out both thine eyes, and fetter'd send thee
Into the common prison, there to grind
Among the slaves and asses, thy comiades,
As good for nothing else, no better service
With those thy boist'rous locks, no worthy match
For valour to assail, nor by the sword
Of noble warrior, so to stain his honour,
But by the barber's razor best subdued.
SAMS. All these indignities, for such they are
From thine, these evils I deserve and more,
Acknowledge them from GOD inflicted on me
Justly, yet despair not of His final pardon
Whose ear is ever open, and His eye
Gracious to readmit the suppliant;
In confidence whereof I once again
Defy thee to the trial of mortal fight,
By combat to decide whose God is GOD,
Thine, or Whom I with Israel's sons adore.
HAR. Fair honour that thou dost thy God, in trusting
He will accept thee to defend his cause,
A murderer, a revolter, and a robber.
SAMS. Tongue-doughty giant, how dost thou prove me
HAR. Is not thy nation subject to our lords?
Their magistrates confess'd it, when they took thee
As a league-breaker, and deliver❜d bound
Into our hands; for hadst thou not committed
Nortorious murder on those thirty men
At Ascalon, who never did thee harm,
Then like a robber stripp'dst them of their robes P
The Philistines, when thou hadst broke the league,
Went up with armèd powers thee only seeking,
To others did no violence nor spoil.
SAMS. Among the daughters of the Philistines
I chose a wife, which argued me no foe;
And in your city held my nuptial feast:
But your ill meaning politician lords,
Under pretence of bridal friends and guests,
Appointed to await me thirty spies,
Who threat'ning cruel death constrain'd the bride
To wring from me and tell to them my secret,
That solved the riddle which I had proposed.
When I perceived all set on enmity,
As on my enemies, wherever chanced,
I used hostility, and took their spoil
To pay my underminers in their coin.
My nation was subjected to your lords.
It was the force of conquest; force with force
Is well ejected when the conquer'd can.
But I a private person, whom my country
As a league-breaker gave up bound, presumed
Single rebellion, and did hostile acts.
I was no private, but a person raised
With strength sufficient and command from heav'n
To free my country; if their servile minds
Me their deliverer sent would not receive.
But to their masters gave me up for nought,
Th' unworthier they; whence to this day they serva
I was to do my part from heav'n assign'd,
And had perform'd it, if my known offence
Had not disabled me, not all your force:
These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant.
Though by his blindness maim'd for high autempts,
Who now defies thee thrice to single fight,
As a petty enterprise of small enforce.
HAR. With thee a man condemn'd, a slave enroll'd,
Due by the law to capital punishment ?
To fight with thee no man of arms will deign.
SAMS. Cam'st thou for this, vain boaster, to survey me,
To descant on my strength, and give the verdict ?
Come nearer, part not hence so slight inform'd;
But take good heed my hand survey not thee.
HAR O Baal-zebub!' can my ears unused
Hear these dishonours, and not render death?
SAMS. No man withholds thee, nothing from thy hand Fear I incurable; bring up thy van,
My heels are fetter'd, but my fist is free.
HAR. This insolence other kind of answer fits. SAMS. Go, baffled coward, lest I run upon thee, Though in these chains, bulk without spirit vast,
A deity of the Philistines; the god of files.
|