Prifon within prifon
Infeparably dark?
Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!)
The dungeon of thy felf; thy foul
(Which men enjoying fight oft without caufe com
Imprison'd now indeed,
In real darkness of the body dwells,
Shut up from outward light
T'incorporate with gloomy night;
For inward light alas
Puts forth no visual beam.
O mirror of our fickle state,
Since man on earth unparallel'd!
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,
Whom long defcent of birth
Or the sphere of fortune raifes;
But thee whofe strength, while virtue was her mate,
Might have fubdu'd the earth,
Univerfally crown'd with highest praises.
Samf. I hear the found of words, their sense the air Diffolves unjointed ere it reach my ear.
Chor. He fpake, let us draw nigh. Matchlefs in might The glory late of Ifrael, now the grief,
We come thy friends and neighbours not unknown
From Efhtaol and Zora's fruitful vale
To vifit or bewail thee, or if better,
Counsel or confolation we may bring
Salve to thy fores, apt words have power to swage
The tumours of a troubled mind,
And are as balm to fefter'd wounds.
Samf. 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
I would be understood) in profp'rous days
They fwarm, but in adverfe withdraw their head
Not to be found, though fought. Ye fee, O friends,
How many evils have inclos'd me round;
Yet that which was the worst now leafts afflicts me,
Blindness, for had I fight, confus'd with shame,
How could I once look up, or heave the head,
Who like a foolish pilot have fhipwreck'd
My veffel trufted to me from above,
Gloriously rigg'd; nd for a word, a tear,
Fool, have divulg'd the fecret gift of God
To a deceitful woman? tell me, friends,
Am I not fung and proverb'd for a fool
In ev'ry ftreet, do they not fay, how well
Are come upon him his deserts? yet why?
Immeasurable ftrength they might behold
In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean;
This with the other fhould, at least, have pair'd,
These two proportion'd ill drove me transverse.
Chor. Tax not divine difpofal, wifest men
Have err'd, and by bad women been deceiv'd;
And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise.
Deject not then fo overmuch thyself,
Who haft of forrow thy full load befides;
Yet truth to fay, I oft have heard men wonder
Why thou should'st wed Philistian woman rather
Than of thine own tribe 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 fought to wed,
The daughter of an infidel; they knew not
That what I mention'd was of God; I knew
From intimate impulse, and therefore urg'd
The marriage on; that by occafion hence
I might begin Ifrael's deliverance,
The work to which I was divinely call'd.
She proving falfe, the next I took to wife
(0 that I never had! fond wish too late,)
Was in the vale of Sorec, Dalila,
That fpecious monfter, my accomplish'd snare.
I thought it lawful from my former act,
And the fame end; ftill watching to opprefs
Ifrael's oppreffors: of what now I fuffer,
She was not the prime cause, but I myself,
Who vanquish'd with a peal of words (O weakness!)
Gave up my fort of filence to a woman.
Chor. In feeking juft occafion to provoke
The Philiftin, thy country's enemy,
Thou never waft remifs, I bear thee witnefs:
Yet Ifrael ftill ferves with all his fons.
Samf. That fault I take not on me, but transfer
On Ifrael'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 confider'd
Deliv'rance offer'd: I on the other fide
Us'd no ambition to commend
The deeds them felyes, tho' mute, fpoke loud the doer;
But they perfifted deaf, and would not seem
To count them things worth notice, till at length
Their lords the Philiftines with gather'd pow'rs
Enter'd Judea feeking me, who then
Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd,
Not flying, but fore-casting in what place
To fet upon them what advantag'd best,
Mean while the men of Judah to prevent
The harrafs of their land beset me round;
I willingly on fome conditions came
Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me
To the uncircumcis'd a welcome prey,
Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threads
Touch'd with the flame: on their whole hoft I flew
Unarm'd, and with a trivial weapon fell'd
Their choiceft youth; they only liv'd who fled.
Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole tribe,
They had by this poffefs'd the tow'rs of Gath,
And lorded over them whom now they ferve:
But what more oft in nations grown corrupt,
And by their vices brought to fervitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty;
And to defpife, or envy, or fufpect
Whom God hath of his fpecial favour rais'd
As their deliv'rer; if he aught begin,
How frequent to defert him, and at last
To heap ingratitude on worthieft deeds?
Chor. Thy words to my remembrance bring.
How Succoth and the fort of Penuel
Their great deliverer contemn'd,
The matchlefs Gideon in pursuit
Of Madian and her vanquish'd kings:
And how ingrateful Ephraim
Had dealt with Jephtha, who by argument,
Not worse than by his shield and spear
Defended Ifrael from the Ammonite,
Had not his prowess quell'd their pride
In that fore battle, when so many dy'd
Without reprieve adjudg'd to death,
For want of well pronouncing Shibboleth.
Samf. Of fuch examples add me to the roll,
Me easily indeed mine may neglect,
But God's propos'd deliverance not fo.
Chor. Juft are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;
Unless there be who think not God at all,
If any be, they walk obfcure;
For of fuch doctrine never was their school,
But the heart of the fool,
And no man therein doctor but himself.
Yet more there be who doubt his ways not just, As to his own edicts found contradicting, Then give the reins to wandring thought, Regardless of his glory's diminution; Till by their own perplexities involv'd They ravel more, ftill lefs refolv'd, But never find self-fatisfying folution.
As if they would confine th' interminable,
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