Of Timna first betray me, and reveal The secret wrested from me in her height Of nuptial love profest, carrying it straight To them who had corrupted her, my spies And rivals? In this other was there found More faith, who also in her prime of love, Spousal embraces, vitiated with gold, Though offer'd only, by the scent conceiv'd Her spurious first-born, treason against me? Thrice she assay'd with flattering prayers, and sighs, And amorous reproaches, to win from me My capital secret, in what part my strength Lay stor❜d, in what part summ'd, that she might
Thrice I deluded her, and turn'd to sport
Her importunity, each time perceiving
How openly and with what impudence
She purpos'd to betray me, and, which was worse Than undissembled hate, with what contempt She sought to make me traitor to myself; Yet the fourth time, when, mustering all her wiles, With blandish'd parlies, feminine assaults, Tongue-batteries, she surceas'd not day nor night To storm me over-watch'd and wearied out, At times when men seek most repose and rest, I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart, Who with a grain of manhood well resolv'd
404 Tongue-batteries] Shakes. Hen. VI. P. 1. act 3. sc. 3. 'I am vanquish'd; these haughty words of hers Have batter'd me,' &c.
Might easily have shook off all her snares: But foul effeminacy held me yok'd Her bond-slave; O indignity! O blot To honour and religion! servile mind Rewarded well with servile punishment! The base degree to which I now am fall'n, These rags, this grinding, is not yet so base As was my former servitude, ignoble, Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,
True slavery, and that blindness worse than this, That saw not how degenerately I serv'd.
MAN. I cannot praise thy marriage choices, son, Rather approv'd them not; but thou didst plead Divine impulsion prompting how thou might'st Find soon occasion to infest our foes.
I state not that; this I am sure, our foes Found soon occasion thereby to make thee
Their captive and their triumph; thou the sooner Temptation found'st, or over-potent charms To violate the sacred trust of silence Deposited within thee; which to have kept Tacit, was in thy power. True; and thou bear'st Enough and more the burthen of that fault; Bitterly hast thou paid, and still are paying That rigid score. A worse thing yet remains ; This day the Philistines a popular feast Here celebrate in Gaza; and proclaim Great pomp, and sacrifice, and praises loud To Dagon, as their god, who hath deliver'd Thee, Samson, bound and blind into their hands,
Them out of thine, who slew'st them many a slain.. So Dagon shall be magnified, and God, Besides whom is no God, compar'd with idols, Disglorified, blasphem'd, and had in scorn By the idolatrous rout amidst their wine ; Which to have come to pass by means of thee, Samson, of all thy sufferings think the heaviest, 445 Of all reproach the most with shame that ever Could have befall'n thee and thy father's house.
SAMS. Father, I do acknowledge and confess That I this honour, I this pomp, have brought To Dagon, and advanc'd his praises high Among the heathen round; to God have brought Dishonour, obloquy, and op'd the mouths Of idolists and atheists; have brought scandal To Israel, diffidence of God, and doubt In feeble hearts, propense enough before To waver, or fall off, and join with idols; Which is my chief affliction, shame, and sorrow, The anguish of my soul, that suffers not Mine eye to harbour sleep, or thoughts to rest. This only hope relieves me, that the strife With me hath end; all the contést is now Twixt God and Dagon; Dagon hath presum❜d, Me overthrown, to enter lists with God, His deity comparing and preferring
Before the God of Abraham. He, be sure, Will not connive, or linger, thus provok'd, But will arise, and his great name assert: Dagon must stoop, and shall ere long receive
Such a discomfit, as shall quite despoil him Of all these boasted trophies won on me, And with confusion blank his worshippers. MAN. With cause this hope relieves thee, and these words
I as a prophecy receive: for God, Nothing more certain, will not long defer
To vindicate the glory of his name Against all competition, nor will long Endure it, doubtful whether God be lord, Or Dagon. But for thee what shall be done? Thou must not in the meanwhile here forgot, Lie in this miserable loathsome plight Neglected. I already have made way
To some Philistian lords, with whom to treat About thy ransom: well they may by this Have satisfied their utmost of revenge
By pains and slaveries, worse than death, inflicted On thee, who now no more canst do them harm.
SAMS. Spare that proposal, father, spare the Of that solicitation: let me here,
As I deserve, pay on my punishment, And expiate, if possible, my crime, Shameful garrulity. To have reveal'd Secrets of men, the secrets of a friend, How heinous had the fact been, how deserving Contempt and scorn of all, to be excluded
All friendship, and avoided as a blab,
471 blank] Hamlet, act iii. sc. 2.
'Each opposite that blanks the face of joy.'
The mark of fool set on his front?
But I God's counsel have not kept, his holy secret Presumptuously have publish'd, impiously, Weakly at least, and shamefully; a sin That Gentiles in their parables condemn To their abyss and horrid pains confin'd. MAN. Be penitent and for thy fault contrite, But act not in thy own affliction, son; Repent the sin, but if the punishment Thou canst avoid, self-preservation bids; Or th' execution leave to high disposal, And let another hand, not thine, exact Thy penal forfeit from thyself; perhaps God will relent, and quit thee all his debt, Who evermore approves and more accepts, Best pleas'd with humble and filial submission, Him who imploring mercy sues for life, Than who self-rigorous chooses death as due, Which argues over-just, and self-displeas'd For self-offence, more than for God offended. Reject not then what offer'd means: who knows But God hath set before us, to return thee Home to thy country and his sacred house, Where thou may'st bring thy off'rings, to avert His further ire, with prayers and vows renew'd?
SAMS. His pardon I implore; but as for life, To what end should I seek it? when in strength All mortals I excell'd, and great in hopes With youthful courage and magnanimous thoughts Of birth from heav'n foretold, and high exploits,
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